Teen Titans: Villainy
by Person With Many Aliases
Summary: Jump City. Nice, quiet little place. Hopefully, it would be the perfect city for two young villains to finally settle in and grow.
1. Entrance Routine

When they first came into town, they decided, they needed food before anything else. Their search led them to a pizza restaurant, one that had an outdoor patio that commanded a wonderful view of downtown.

"Well, what do you think?"

He bit into the warm slice of pizza, letting the melted cheese shift around in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing.

"It is cold."

"What do you mean, 'it's cold'? Are you serious, that's all you taste? I give up…" Was her exasperated exclamation, before the girl tumbled over the top of the table.

"Valentine, your hair is getting over the pizza."

"It's not like you can taste hair, anyways."

"I may not have a sense of taste, but my sense of texture is still very strong. Hairy pizza is disagreeable." He simply stated, before leaning back in his seat stiffly. He reached into a corner of his winter jacket, and pulled out a papered tube and puckered his lips about it. A lighter with a blue flame not long after met the end; afterwards he sucked hard and drew out a breath of white fumes.

Valentine backed away from the mist immediately, glaring, "Hey, don't get that stuff on the pizza. You might have a problem with hairy pizza, I got a problem with crumbly pizza."

He hummed his acquiescence while he watched her straighten out her pressed black feminine and embroidered three-piece suit, which clashed with the black knit-cap which was pulled over her long black hair, across the front of the cotton, the Valentine insignia; a macabre caricature of an eye looking upwards while a single tear fell from the bottom lid. Likewise symbols were printed on the back of the white gloves she always wore.

"Interesting." He murmured, drawing out another pale mist with every second breath. Valentine asked what was. "We are both very strangely dressed in a city like this?"

"Don't worry about it! There's a lot of freaks in this city! We'll be fitting right in!" Valentine laughed. He remained silent, hands in the pockets of his bright blue winter jacket.

"About the nature of the… 'freaks' in this city…"

"N'yeah?"

"You are confident that your research is valid?"

"Are you an idiot? Of course my research is hardly valid! All I had to work on is a tourist booklet! We've been living off the grid for what, months?"

"Conceded. I am just… concerned about early reprisals-"

"Look around you, you see any good guys? See any bad guys? Jump City's safe for the two of us to start up a business!"

"What about that large T-shaped structure that we noted in the bay?"

"Phhhw, as far as I can tell, it's just a big, fancy lighthouse. We're fine."

"And in the advent we are truly accosted by a non-federal local crime prevention agency?"

"Hey! I'm me, and you're you! We'll be fine!"

"Very well. Then before we begin we require four things: seed money, a location of habitation, more members, and aliases."

"_Must_ we have aliases?" Valentine groaned.

"I believe it is traditional."

"Traditional is BORING. Valentine is fine."

"Very well, Valentine. Henceforth, you shall also be known as Valentine."

"Were you just trying to crack a joke?"

"No."

"Whatever. How about you?

"I am soon to decide upon a reasonable alias. I would prefer a personal confidentiality on the matter, though."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what's first?"

"Given our abilities, I believe it is suitable for me to procure the necessary funds. You shall find a suitable place of residence. Preferably one that does not require rent. We will work from there."

"Here we go…" Valentine smirked. The two rose from their seats, the pizza mostly finished. A few crumpled bills were tossed onto the table as they left.

Jump City. Nice quiet little place.

Hopefully, it would be the perfect city for two young villains to finally settle in and grow.

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**Person With Many Aliases Presents:**

"**Teen Titans: Villainy"**

**A Teen Titans Fanfiction**

**Teen Titans series production by Warner Bros.**

**Original Characters property of Author "Person With Many Aliases"**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Entrance Routine**

**-**

**-**

**-**

For those on the other side of the glass, her nametag loudly proclaimed her existence as just "Cindy".

"Next!" Cindy would call out in her cheerful, bank-teller voice, while sitting behind the counter in her bank-teller vest and lined blouse. And everyday, she cried "Next!" and the man in a suit, or the happy family man would move away to make room for the next.

Granted, she was a recent addition to the staff of Jump City National Bank and Depository, in a city that was fairly notorious for being periodically threatened by utter destruction, but nothing happened to Cindy yet, so everything was fine and dandy.

"Next!" Cindy called out.

Black boots trudged a young teenager forward.

Cindy immediately had a feeling of something off. Teenager? This wasn't the usual business suit or happy family man. In fact, he looked very odd. The boy was dressed, along with the boots, in black Capri shorts, while a white and blue-highlighted buttoned shirt clung to his smallish form. In fact, he looked rather sickly in some ways, with his pasty pale neck and legs. Any other skin was buried deep within the deep blue winter jacket he wore, the hood pulled over his head, and hands sunken in the pockets.

A Winter Jacket.

A _Winter _Jacket! That stretched easily all the way to his knees! In the middle of Jump City! In Spring!

Cindy filed the warnings into the back of her head, while convention moved her mouth. "Hello! Welcome to Jump City National Bank, how may I assist you?"

The boy turned his head upward, piercing her through her forehead with his ice-blue stare. "May I make a few inquiries?"

"Huh? Of course!"

"This bank, what does it exactly store?"

"Oh! Jump City National Bank can store a variety of valuables for you! We not only are capable of holding accounts, but we also host vaults to store company bearer bonds, stocks, or other personal artifacts of value to you!"

"But this bank, it still mainly contains monetary funds?"

"Yes! This is still a bank, first and foremost!"

"I see… I would like to make a special withdrawal."

Special Withdrawal? That irked Cindy just the slightest. "What sort of withdrawal?"

"How do you say it… the discount of five fingers? No… Five Finger Discount, that is it."

"E-excuse me?"

"I am performing the act of armed robbery." The boy bluntly put it, while bringing a peculiar looking cigarette to his mouth.

Cindy didn't know how to react properly to such a casually put phrase, coming up with only a gawking, "This is a joke… right?"

The boy, removing his lit smoke from the blue flame of his lighter, inhaled, and simply blew the white mist into the glass pane separating the two of them. The window immediately was covered in white.

A moment later, the boy's black gloved fist smashed through the frosted glass, spilling shards everywhere while his fist grabbed the front of Cindy's blouse. People's shocked cries and screams at the violent sound echoed across the lobby, while the shattered pane immediately activated alarms.

The piercing ice-blue gaze never wavered, "This is no jest. I demand access to the vault where the majority of your monetary funds are being held. I will use necessary force to accomplish this task."

Marking this threat, the boy raised his lighter above his head, sparking the flint into a blue flame once more.

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In Valentine's supposed high-tech lighthouse, life inside was cut short by alarm klaxons and red lights. Computers digitized the location of the trouble on the map, while live feeds displayed the inside of the building.

Masked eyes narrowed, "Somebody's robbing the national bank."

Metal fingers scratched a chin in thought, "Don't look like anyone we ever seen before."

She wondered as she floated closer to the screen, "Perhaps then, he is a… new character of villainous nature?"

A graveled sigh, "Great. Another super-powered trouble maker."

A fanged mouth gawked, "DUDE! Did he just pull out the entire vault? What's he been taking?"

The first speaker turned around, face hard and dutiful to the city, "It doesn't matter. New face or not, we're stopping him in his tracks! Titans, GO!"

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Robin's mind raced back to the instant he shouted that phrase, as his thoughts worked in delicious irony: as the Teen Titans were going towards the bank at full speed in the T-Car, a large cylindrical bank vault, freshly torn from its cement embedding and covered in a sheet of ice, was exiting the bank at full speed.

The impending collision did not appear pleasant at all.

"Cyborg! Stop the car, now!"

"What? You don't think I'm tryin'!" The mentioned Cyborg shouted back, his steel fingers digging into the wheel as he tried to bring the electric blue and white vehicle to a stop, only getting it to start screeching on its side, slowing in front of the barreling steel coming towards them. Robin turned to another member of the team for that issue.

"Raven!"

"On it."

The sorcerer's hand stretched out, and the vault clouded over with black shadows, before the entire device was hefted over the sliding T-Car, bringing it to an unmolested sliding stop before the shattered front of the bank.

The boy in the hooded jacket exited the bank onto the steps just as the Titans left their vehicle, breathing in another of his lit cylinders. Eyes met.

"Costumes…" The boy in blue murmured, "I assume that you are a local crime-prevention agency?"

Robin smirked, "Yeah, and around here, we're known as the Teen Titans!"

"And you're not getting off easy just because you're new in town!" Beast Boy added in.

"I see… she made a gross misestimation of one of her core conclusions…" he muttered off somewhere to himself, "And you are going to attempt to apprehend and send me to your penitentiary? Very well, you may attempt."

Beast Boy frowned at the statement, "And who are you supposed to be? Doom Dictionary?"

He reached into his pocket and unearthed his lighter, before opening the lid and striking the flint into a blue flame as he spoke.

"Mr. Freeze."

In an instant, he brought his free palm towards the flame before thrusting it outwards, the blue flame suddenly bursting into a large stream and following the motion. The 'crime-prevention agency' only managed to leap out of the way while the azure flames washed over the T-Car, flinging it through the air.

A car-shaped block of white ice crashed to the ground instead.

Cyborg choked at the latest death of his baby, "My car! Oh man, new guy or not, Frosty's gonna get it!"

Robin put his teammate's feelings into a familiar command, "Titans, GO!"

In a moment, the group surged up the low steps towards the apathetic villain. Boy Wonder, up in the lead, also led with an array of his red-bladed birdarangs. Mr. Freeze noted the incoming projectiles, and flicked out his wrist, the lighter in his hand unleashing a short burst of ice-flames that the birdarangs flew into. What came out the other side was a crumbling pile of ice that impacted uselessly against Freeze's form. Immediately, the new face shot his weapon towards the ground, letting the flames wash across the stairway towards the grounded Titans' feet. This was no problem though; as Beast Boy took Cyborg up in their familiar Pterodactyl-based escape maneuver, while Robin leapt through the air, diving downwards towards Freeze in a kick. Before the blow could connect, Mr. Freeze skated away-

_SKATED?_

-Robin found himself slipping across the ground that was now iced over in the last attack, while the villain was racing down the ice-ramped steps with Olympic control, despite only being armed with simple boots. From above, Cyborg fired away with the Sonic Cannon built into his right arm, blue beams of amplified sound slamming into the iced ground, while the targeted villain continued to skate around the attacks with mechanical grace. Gaining enough momentum, Mr. Freeze shot out more of the blue flames, sculpting onto the ground a massive steep ramp that let the boy shoot upwards towards the man-machine perched on his prehistoric ride. The two only managed to give noises of shock before they found themselves plastered against the wall of a building several stories up with a layer of ice.

_That attends to about three of them. That leaves only the flyers-_

Mr. Freeze's thought were interrupted in mid-fall when he was caught in a literally flying tackle, spinning through the air with Starfire latched onto his back, her arms twisted in an steel grip around his arms and chest.

"You will not hurt my friends anymore!"

"I am unable to comply with that demand."

Another flick of his wrist, and the lighter shot a stream towards the building adjacent to the pair. As the blue flames crashed against the building, the ice began to build backwards against the stream of flames at a rapid speed, until a giant growing slate of ice slammed back into the two, smashing the two of them against another building, alien princess first. The impact was enough to jar the two of them loose and let them fall, Mr. Freeze attending to his own descent with another conjured ramp towards the ground, while he heard one of the males in the group call out to Starfire in horror. He paid it no mind though, paying more attention to skating at full speed towards the ice covered vault that lay in the street unattended, lighting another of his white tubes to breath through all the while.

Raven suddenly floated in front of the ice-gimmicked villain, her right hand burning black, "Dropped this? Let me help you."

To say that Freeze was surprised to find the giant cylindrical steel vault hurtling towards him was a bit of an overstatement. Regardless, he found himself carried away by the flying steel with a resounding thud, before he found himself bouncing across the ground at high speed. A green gloved hand grabbed the back of his collar in mid-slide, and Robin used the momentum to pick Freeze off the ground, before a cry threw him back into the ground, cracking frosted cement and eliciting a grunt from the new face. Switching grips, Robin grabbed Mr. Freeze's armed hand tightly and held it away, while another pulled him up to his feet roughly by his collar.

"You've done enough damage for a new guy." The leader growled. The aforementioned new guy merely exhaled heavily into Robin's face, the boy wonder reeling backwards from the white haze, as he clawed his face at the sensation of ice frosting onto his face. As Mr. Freeze began to back away from his last foe, he heard the sound of bursting ice, and a heavy crashing sound behind him. Turning around, he looked on in mild shock at the sight of a gigantic green tyrannosaurus rex shaking off snow, before roaring and lunging down at Freeze, teeth open.

It also reeled back; its open jaws suddenly stuff and trapped in place with ice. Suddenly, Cyborg was leaping off the changeling-dinosaur's back, arm pulled back with a Sonic Cannon.

"AIR MAIL!"

Caught off guard once more, Freeze was blown back by the burst of sonic energy. As he slid on his back, he noticed Starfire, having recovered from her fall, was flying past Beast Boy and Cyborg, hands and eyes alight with green.

_There is no end to this, is there?_ Was what the villain thought to himself, as he lashed forwards with another stream of frozen flame, which intercepted the flying Tameranian. Starfire dove in headfirst, and for a moment there was only the blue fire.

A green glow, and the azure exploded in a gigantic display of steam and smoke, clouding the vision everywhere.

Mr. Freeze's mind was always on the move, gathering information. _The result of that explosion is thermal expansion. For something to expand the low temperature cold like that must require high temperature of equal degree. She was also capable of actually surviving the low temperature as well._

_A natural counter to my ability, what a compelling thought._

As Freeze whirled around in the heated smoke, he found Raven once more. Acting on instinct at the sight of her black hands, he raised his lighter to attack.

He found it turning the same shade as the Sorceress' power, and watched himself fall to the ground as the lighter was jerked out of his grip. Gathering himself to his feet, he heard the sound of compressed air cylinders firing, of whining wires, and a grappling hook suddenly shot out of the mist, wrapping him up tightly across all his limbs, leaving him fighting for his balance on his two feet that were suddenly lashed together.

As the smoke cleared, he found himself tied up, on the other end, the Titans triumphant, Robin holding the cable.

"It's over, Freeze. I think it's best for you to cool off in jail." Robin smirked.

"But don't worry! I heard they had orientation tours at the jail for new comers." Cyborg couldn't help but quip.

Mr. Freeze kept thinking, noting the lighter that was left on the ground. _Irrelevant commentary belies a loss in response time. Neglected captured weaponry denotes lack of understanding of its uses._ "You will release me immediately-"

He stretched his palm. The lighter on the ground suddenly opened up in a gigantic jet of blue flame.

"-Or I will ignite all the fluid in my weapon, freezing everything in a block radius around us. Choose wisely."

The Titans looked in shock as their feet suddenly started crusting over in frost, along with anything close to the ground, with the level slowly rising. Robin thought quickly.

"Raven! Throw it up!"

Another hand movement by the cloaked figure had the self-destructing device tossed several meters into the sky.

"Starfire, can you hit it?"

"I shall find out!"

Several green bursts later, one connected with the dark silhouette in the sky, causing it to burst in a white cloud.

The white cloud began to fall towards them.

As the crowd gaped at the falling mass, Beast Boy only had time to scream at their captive, "Dude! Did you just lie to us?"

"You have chosen wisely."

An entire avalanche of snow buried the six of them, the white high enough to bury the street up to several stories up. In Jump City. In the middle of Spring.

A few moments later, Mr. Freeze nonchalantly burst from the top of the mountain, the wire tying him super frozen into white crystal that shattered with little effort. Standing up, he threw his palms down, commanding the snow. Soon enough, the white powder compacted, solidified and hardened.

That should trap them long enough… 

The tinny sounds of a falling bomb reached Mr. Freeze's ears just then. Recognizing the ring tone, and the number connected to it, he reached into his other pocket of his winter jacket and pulled out a metal red, metal gray cell phone.

"Hello?"

_"Hallo, Mr. Confidential! How are you doing?"_

"That is Mr. Freeze. I am currently engaged in combat with the local non-federal crime-prevention agency, which you assured this city would be lacking."

_"Oooh! Are you cool?"_

"I am always of a low temperature, Valentine. But I assume you mean I am of satisfactory physical condition. And I would say that I was potentially fighting for my livelihood."

Somewhere in between, Freeze hunched downwards to ignite another of his frozen tubes against the cold snow.

_"Well, since you're calling me, you must be fine now! How are things on your part?_

"I think I can recover the funds. How is the condition of the task I have left to you?"

"_I found a killer place! Killer! Nobody lives in it, and it's… really killer! It's been abandoned for a while, come to look at it…_"

"What is the condition of the facility?"

"_I think we can patch it up A-ok. I'm send you the location, now…Locium, Vindai…_"

Upon hearing the rest of the phrase, Mr. Freeze hummed at the new memory. "Very well. I am cutting communication to continue with my task."

_"And good bye to you, linguistically challenged fellow! Ha, ha, ha-"_

Freeze snapped the phone shut, and thrust his palm towards the compacted snow once more. In an instant, the frozen vault burst out of the snow by his command. With an open palm placed against the side and iced stuck to the surface, Mr. Freeze easily hefted the entire ice-covered mass as if it were nothing, and took to the rooftops, leaving the non-federal crime-prevention agency in the snow.

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While Valentine could easily circumvent the problem of an elevator with no electricity, Mr. Freeze could not move upwards without a replacement lighter. And rather than waste Minutes on his phone just calling the girl, the boy opted to more efficiently just shimmy up the steel-plaited cabling.

He found himself in a windy… place. Valentine turned around from overlooking the city with a delighted sneer.

"Well, how is it? And where's the money?"

Freeze looked around. The entire place was shaped in a dome shape, much like an observatory. Blasted equipment was everywhere, along with scattered and abandoned police tape of long gone investigations. In the center of the room was some sort of giant rotating mechanical harness, whatever it held long gone by confiscation. Most notably, however, was the condition of the chamber itself. Holes were melted right through the walls of the dome, at various points, most notably at the upper walkway that ringed the insides of the room. More importantly, near half of the dome itself was cleaved away, leaving and abrupt edge that opened up the inside of the observatory to the exposed outside of the cliff air and the view of Jump City down below.

And it was cold.

"This location will be satisfactory for now, with the necessary repairs and renovation. The funds are down at the bottom of the shaft. I assume the repairs will also come from you? My abilities would only temporarily stop any holes."

"Yeah, yeah! I'll get my guys on it tomorrow. I've already started building my factory in one of the larger labs. You know this place has labs, right? I mean jeez! Whoever stayed here last was a real professor! There used to be computers here! Vats of who-knows-what just lying around! There are electric sockets just lying around waiting to be used! So much to do… I'll have to reset the mailing addresses so the stuff will come here…" Valentine mumbled to herself, looking around, bringing her white-gloved hand to her chin as she looked around viciously like a child at Christmas.

For some reason, Mr. Freeze knew he should have shuddered every time his partner brought up the nature of her "factory" so casually, if his nerves weren't so dead already.

"Valentine… I still find it rather… compelling where the origin of your… tools, come from-"

"Hey! The Valentine Foundation isn't a front, okay? It's a real medical company, and I do pay customers for selling-"

"But do they even know what they are being used for?"

"Look, they'll be dead by the time they get around to that, so they never care, yeah? Besides, I like to think of it as recycling! Too much space wasted these days, ya know?"

"… Valentine, I forgot to mention. The local crime-fighting agency destroyed my lighter in the feud I had today. You'll have to make another one soon, since I have no other way of lighting the tubes."

Valentine made a strangling noise before huffing off, "Geez! Nothing but work for me, huh? Just be glad I like doing what I do! Stay up here where it's cold! I'll be back…"

Mr. Freeze watched her march off and command the elevator to move upwards with a phrase, before turning back to look at the city below.

_I have money…I only need equipment, and members now… _

_Jump City…might actually be hospitable…_

Mr. Freeze basked in the cold as the sun finally fell past the horizon, coating the sky in a deep blue.

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A/N: This is my first Teen Titans fanfiction. Honestly, the prospect is slightly frightening, since there is a possibility I might portray the Titans incorrectly. There is a sense of layer to them, which I fear I might miss in their portrayal. Meaning, I might only write out Raven as a simple sarcastic Goth, Beast Boy as an idiotic joker, etc. So if you have any comment to their portrayal throughout the story, please inform me. Any error will not be out of spite to the character, only misjudgment. Feel free to comment on the original characters as well. I'm fairly well practiced in making them, and I share a general sense of pride in seeing them considered realistic.

Finally, the nature of the chapters will be fairly episodic, like a TV series, so like a TV show, minor details will probably be ignored, such as the recurring T-car, or etc.

**Episode 2: "Knowledge is Power" – It's time for Valentine to strike STAR Labs in search of equipment. The Titans are on the case, but there's one problem: Mr. Freeze has fought the Titans and lived to tell about it, and his partner-in-crime is taking very studious notes…**


	2. Knowledge is Power

"-But Robin, you cannot keep working in this fashion! I understand you are angry that the Mr. Freeze had escaped and left us as cold as the cube or cream of ice, but-"

"It's not about that, Starfire." Robin dismissed as he marched towards the heart of Titan's Tower, 'Ops', "We let him get away with an entire vault of money, and on his first try. I can't let someone like Freeze think he's got it easy, or the city will be in more danger…"

Beast Boy, catching the end of the conversation as Robin and Starfire entered the living room/command center decided to input, "Come on! It's not like Frosty had an easy time. We kicked his butt, broke his toy, and nearly caught him! I think it's safe to say he'll be quaking in his boots every time he hears the name of Beast Boy… or Teen Titans."

"Right, he'll sure be fearing the name of someone who he froze twice in the same fight." Raven muttered off-hand, getting the usual frown from the shape shifter.

Robin turned to the sorcerer at that, "Raven, can you use your powers and try to figure out where he might be?"

"I wish, but something is off with that guy…"

"Apart from his overly correct grammar?" Cyborg decided to snipe at their unseen quarry. In some way, all of them felt irritation at the escape of crime's newest façade.

"During the battle, I tried to pick up some sort of emotional vibe from him, try to figure out how he thinks. I didn't get anything from him. Apart from a bit of shock or surprise, he was pretty much emotionally dead."

"Meaning we can't track him that way…" Robin frowned as he looked over the skyline of the city, "All that money, and all that power. There's no telling what plots he could be scheming at this very minute."

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Valentine sashayed and swung her hips, earphones firmly gripped over her head, and protective goggles over her eyes. Moving the nozzle of spraying paint, she grinned as she put the final touches to another arcane symbol to the side of a steel plate.

"Groooovin' magic! Some-a-thing in Jap-a-neeese… Oh, oh, oh, oh…"

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**Knowledge is Power**

**-**

**-**

**-**

As she swirled around to another metal plate that was to be used in the repairs, a voice cut into her song.

"Valentine. I need you here, please."

"Bah! Fine, fine."

Tossing her previous equipment aside, she approached Mr. Freeze, who sat on the ground, typing furiously into a laptop that was wired all the way to the other side of the room with various extensions.

"So, Freeze, enjoying your riveting all night entertainment of reading up everything on Jump City in the past century, or whatever?"

"It is not enjoyment, it is simply informing oneself." The boy in blue shot back monotonously, never turning from the screen once, "I had been forming a mission statement for our group, and I decided to inform you of a particular privilege to entice recruits. Since we are both founding members, you are eligible for the same."

"Huh? Stop droning…" Valentine mumbled as she looked past Mr. Freeze's shoulder to the document, "Hmm… wish?"

"I have decided to implement a wish system. All members of our organization is entitled to one demand, or 'wish', that other members may be obligated to fulfill, if reasonable."

"So basically, I can ask anything I want, and you'd have to do it?"

"Within reason."

"Then I know what I want right NOW! More female members!"

"Personally, and once more, I do not see the reasoning behind the desire to obtain recruits of your gender, Valentine."

Valentine harrumphed and stared down at her partner-in-crime, "C'mon! You ever watch cartoons or comics or something? Every time there's a team of whatever, heroes, or villains, or whatever really, the ratio of guys to girls is always two to one! Discriminatory! Annoying! No more! If you're gonna get more members, I need at least more girls to offset the testosterone! More girls so I can giggle and gossip about the current hotties, and etcetera! More evil girl power!

Freeze pulled out another news article as he considered everything, "Do you have any preference?"

"No! Why do I need any preference! Just get any girl! I mean an evil one! You know!"

"Understood. When there is an opportunity, I will keep your request in mind. Now, for more important matters… we require more equipment."

"Why's'at?"

"If we are to keep track of activities in the city, we require more powerful computer processing equipment. You said so yourself that there is a lot of unused electrical potential in this facility. We should make use of it."

"And where am I supposed to steal this amazing processor stuff?" Valentine snorted, hands on hips.

The laptop was raised towards her, piquing her notice with a particular web page.

"STAR labs?"

"It's a privately owned science and engineering research chain based world-wide. There is one in Jump City. Even if it doesn't focus on computer equipment, its technology is high-end. It is a large facility, though. I would not be able to traverse it all. You can, though, with help from your… factory products."

"Ya gotta be kidding me. My factory hasn't got enough stuff to start production yet! I only have, what… two or three platoons only?"

"It is more than I could ever achieve on my own. I leave this task to you, Valentine."

"B-but what about those hero guys you told me about! They're not going to sit this out!"

"That is why you should listen very carefully to what I am about to say next-"

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"I still can't believe he'd make the Mission Statement without me… I don't care if he's emotionally dead or whatever… 'Leave it to the bureaucrats', pah! Mr. Efficient…" Valentine grumbled to herself as she tromped towards the guard's booth that sat in front of the main entrance into STAR labs. Tucked under one armpit was a large leather bound tome; while behind her in the near streets were two large buses, windows tinted black.

But before anything, Valentine was a businesswoman, and as she closed in on the guard in the late night, her face pulled into a cheerful visage.

A gloved hand rapped against the glass window, alerting the attention of the blue-collar security man, who turned up from his comic book. He looked up into the cheerful smile of a girl in a business suit.

"Hallo! I'm an inspector from the Valentine Foundation, my team of specialists and I would like to be permitted inside your premises for an inspection of your materials, this cool with you?"

The security guard tipped his hat indignantly at the younger girl, "Look little lady, visiting hours are between twelve and four, and it's nine at night. Plus, all formal visitors are required to have an appointment. So, you just take your little prankster butt back home-"

"Come on! I have two whole buses behind me full of my team of inspectors, you really don't believe me?"

"Miss, leave before I call the cops."

Valentine drew back with a wistful sigh, placing the back of her hand against her forehead, "For shame! If that's how things are going to be…"

She snapped her fingers.

The next thing the guard knew, the bullet proof glass in front of him suddenly cracked with thunder, spider lines tracing across the pane.

"What the-"

The guard suddenly noticed it. Behind the girl were the two buses. One of the windows on one of them were opened just the slightest, a barrel of a gun poking out.

The rest of the windows slid apart, revealing more guns jutting out. Valentine sneered.

"What's the matter, blue-collar? You look a little pale! My prank too much for you? Either way… Ciao!"

With another snap of her fingers, the entire bus broadsided the security booth with a hail of lead, the security guard screaming and escaping just in time for the box to disintegrate under the fire.

"You can stop now! I said stop! STOP, YOU STUPID GHOULS!"

The gunfire scattered to a halt. Valentine sighed, "I really gotta find a way to fix the AI on these guys…"

Another snap of the fingers.

The two doors of the buses slid open, letting uniformed men march out in order. Balaclavas, and body armor, boots and purple glowing eyes, sub-machine guns, and steel shields. They all came to a stop in front of Valentine and saluted.

Across the shields was the etched insignia of the Valentine Eye, underneath a phrase:

**-BooDoo PeoPle MurDer PeoPle-**

Valentine laughed as she strode forwards, soldiers behind her, "Well then, let's get this show on the road, huh? STAR labs, you're officially the property of the Valentine Foundation."

-

-

-

The T-Car leapt over the street and skidded into control as it speeded towards the STAR labs compounds. Not far behind was Robin, perched on his own R-Cycle, while Starfire stayed high above.

"A few days ago it was the bank. Now somebody is raiding STAR labs for computer equipment. This is definitely Freeze setting up shop in Jump City." Robin shouted through the wind, into the mic built into this helmet.

"I don't know man, unless Freeze suddenly picked up an army, it isn't the same guy", Cyborg called back from inside his car.

"What?"

"The eyewitnesses that got out say that the guy's a girl in a suit, and she's got an army soldiers doing her work."

"Then it's not Mr. Freeze…"

Starfire's communication cut in, "Then perhaps it is the 'She' that the Mr. Freeze muttered to himself in passing when we fought him."

"Then it begs the question, how many of these guys are with Mr. Freeze?"

"Time to find out." Robin growled as he closed in on STAR labs.

-

-

-

Spit-shined leather shoes moved back and forth to an invisible beat as they propped themselves on the desk in the security room. In the room lit only by monitors, Valentine watched with delight as the perimeter security cameras showed the Titans approaching.

"Uh, uh, uh. Listen to the security guard, visiting hours only between twelve and four, and only with an appointment." Sitting up, she grabbed a walkie-talkie and brought it to her mouth, "Perimeter defenses, go!"

-

-

-

"DUDE! Watch out!" Beast Boy exclaimed at the sight of the office windows suddenly bursting, several missiles flying out towards them.

"Raven! Starfire! Take them out! Titans, move!" Robin shouted as the team began to fragment away from the warheads.

Raven's eyes glowed as she chanted, "Azarath, Metrion-"

-

-

-

_One of them uses psychokinesis, and she can move all physical matter. You can identify her by her cloak and black-hued powers. Use something that is…not solid._

Valentine eyes widened along with her wicked sneer, the game was _so_ on, "Missile teams, switch to premature burst Reds! STAT!"

-

-

-

The first volley of missiles crumpled away under Raven's powers, exploding harmlessly before the team, but immediately, a new volley came forth.

"Looks like she's not learning!" Cyborg shouted back to Raven, prompting her to use her powers again.

The new volley suddenly exploded into a burst of napalm that fell towards them.

"Looks like she is." Raven managed to gape before the gel-fire slammed down onto the T-Car, setting it alight. Unable to drive properly, the T-Car swerved out of control, only managing to crash through the closed gates of the labs, before smashing inside the lobby, still smoking.

"Starfire! Cover them!"

"I shall endeavor to do so!"

-

-

-

_One of them has red hair. She uses some sort heat-based projectile weapon that emanates naturally from her body. I have a suspicion that she has a higher body temperature than normal humans._

"I want half the Missile teams to switch to heat-seeking!"

-

-

-

Starfire continued to shoot down the missiles that came towards her, but she finally was forced to dodge out of the way of one of them when they started to overwhelm.

She noticed it turning around in a tight arc back at her.

"Eep!" Dodging again, the Tameranian suddenly found herself being pursued through the night sky by a series of warheads. Below, Robin looked on in horror.

"Star!"

"Do not worry about me! Get to our friends!"

Robin snorted, but obeyed, trusting her judgment. Driving towards the lobby, Boy Wonder managed to dodge a few more napalm rockets, before crashing into the lobby as well, meeting up with a smoking T-Car, and the remaining Titans.

"You guys alright?"

"We'll live." Raven bluntly put it.

Behind them, a metal shutter suddenly slammed in front of the shattered glass, sealing the main entrance. The intercoms in the room suddenly squeaked to life.

"_Halloo-oh! I see that only four of you made it this far!"_

"Talk! I know you can hear us! Who are you!" Robin shouted to one of speakers in a corner of the Lobby.

"I'm the head of the Valentine Foundation! Ms. Valentine! Or Valentine-sama if you're from Japan, heh! I welcome all you Titans to my newest branch office!"

"What are you planning?"

_"Two things really. A, I'm breaking into the high-security vaults at the top of this place. Must be something nice here, B, I'm here to see how good you guys really are! It's not everyday you see someone give ole Freezie a real fight!"_

"You're not going to get away with this!"

_"Oh please! The bigger question is whether **you **guys are going get away with this! Better start running, the Boodoo People are out to get you!"_

Valentine cut off then. Beast Boy scratched his head at the words.

"Boodoo? What's a boodoo?"

"Looks like we're about to find out." Raven snorted, pointing down a side hall. Arising from the darkness were glowing purple eyes and marching. Soldiers poured out, guns firing.

The four heroes ducked out of the way of the gunfire, letting the scenery rip up around them. Robin threw several of his familiar birdarangs with precision, the red blades slashing into the hands and shoulders of the Boodoo People. Despite the large cuts, there was no effect, the men continuing to fire as if nothing happened.

"So they can take a couple of shots, but can they take this?" Cyborg shouted, arm splitting away into his sonic weapon. The discharged beams smashed full on into the metal shields, but the soldiers withstood and kept on marching.

Raven stepped in, hands glowing. Immediately the shields darkened, but just as fast, the energy dissipated around the shields, leaving the resident sorceress in shock.

"Magic?"

The Boodoo People only responded in more gunfire. Robin shouted, "Titans! Move!"

-

-

-

_When I fought them, their strategy relied on their numbers. Each fought me one at a time, tiring me out, while leaving the other four to recover. At the same time, they stretched out the fight so they could devise a plan based on basic observation of the opposition's ability. Separate them, outnumber them, and hunt them down._

Valentine's gloved hand moved to the security lock down toggles, and started flipping them one at a time.

-

-

-

Around them, the hallways at various intervals started to drop armored shutters. As fast as they ran, the devices slowly started to separate them.

Cyborg was first, his large frame unable to slip underneath the first of the shutters. Beast Boy came next, the constant running starting to wear on him, until he couldn't keep up at the next junction. Raven and Robin split next, a sudden ambush by the glowing-eyed soldiers forcing them in different way through a T-Junction, before another shutter closed behind them.

Valentine's voice shrieked with delight,_ "Oh! You're all alone now! Like some cheap horror movie! Now, it's each one of you, against all my People! So what are you gonna do? Try and make it through this maze and regroup with your missing teammates? Or maybe you'll try to get me by yourself! But what about your friends! What are they gonna do? Oh the possibilities! This is just perfect! But I talk too much, so Ciao!"_

_-_

-

-

Man, there was never a time where Valentine so badly wanted to make out with the camera monitors, just watching it was too beautiful.

Granted, normal people found Valentine disturbing, or maybe sadistic, or just plain psychotic. There was something to be said about people who went into fits of joy watching teenaged superheroes going through hoops made of automatic lead, chased down like animals.

Maybe that was it. She just loved doing this. She didn't love being more powerful than heroes or anything, just watching was enough. See them squirm, see them run, see the sweat run off their face, watch them tense up for last stands. How do they react in situation A? How is it different from Subject Two? Which one should she consider the Control Variable?

Valentine giggled as she watched the Green Cheetah narrowly dodge a grenade from one of her Boodoo People, and escape into the exposed air ducts as a fly.

No, it wasn't about glorifying herself. She already knew enough about herself. How would they act? Sometimes winning or losing wasn't the point, she just wanted to see what would happen if Subject so-and-so was in Situation such-and-such.

Oh, and that sorcerer girl was so fun to watch. How could Freezie say it was just telekinesis? She was injecting portions of her soul into her surrounding environment and manipulating it as an extension of herself! Without even blinking! Isn't life just grand to see how things like that would pop up!

No Valentine wasn't sadistic, or disturbed, or psychopathic. She just had the same love for her work as a scientist for his amoeba friends under a microscope. Or an animal researcher watching mice run through mazes. Aren't they just so fun to watch?

"Ooh! The normal guy's gonna get toasted!" Valentine cackled, watching on one monitor as the black-haired fellow in the green and red get up trap himself in a dead end. He threw a few of his red spinny things at her Boodoo People, but it bounced off the shields. He was smart, he didn't crack under pressure. He just glared at the guns.

This was so great. He was gonna get pounded down by the guns, blood and guts everywhere, and the Boodoo People wouldn't know when to stop shooting, so she would have to shout through the PA's for them to stop, which meant all the other heroes would hear, and then they'd know he was dead, and they'd-

Freak out? Get angry and go into a mad rampage and get killed as well? Well come on! Get on with the show! Ms. Valentine wants to know what happens next!

Suddenly the monitor showed the wall exploding, scattering Valentine's soldiers as that flying girl blew through the wall, blowing stuff up with her amazing green lasers. Gugh!

Valentine slammed her palm on the intercom as she watched the two go all "You're alive!". That wasn't allowed! The girl was supposed to be nuked by now!

"Hey! Don't bring up my expectations like that! You ruined the tension!" Valentine roared into the microphone.

_"You are a mean lady who deserves not to have every thing the way she wants! And I've been told that to keep staring at one is rude!"_ The new factor chided, before a green light disrupted the screen, bringing static to the camera.

"Phhw! Annoying brat! Fine! I'll just watch the other-"

Valentine gaped. Where the robot-guy was, there was a hole in the floor, and the cameras didn't reach into the underground sections. There was no room the put cameras in the ductwork either, so the shape-shifting green fellow couldn't be tracked either. The sorcerer girl was all gone now, but that was given sooner or later. And now the other two were moving… somewhere. Cameras were being disabled wherever they moved.

Valentine rose from her seat, groaning, "Come on guys! Don't do this to me! It's going to be boring if all I have to watch is my guys just busting through the vault!"

-

-

-

Down in the dark, lit only by a shoulder lamp, five battered bodies convened.

"I don't know about you guys, but as far as I'm concerned, microphone girl's crazy." Beast Boy huffed.

"Not just crazy. She's completely insane." Raven darkly muttered like a curse.

"Raven? Then perhaps you know something about this Valentine?" Starfire asked, knowledgeable enough to know that tone of voice meant something.

"I know enough. She's a witch of the worst kind. Their type play around with the darkest magics like it's a game."

"Dude! How can anybody be any darker than you?" Beast Boy snorted. And immediately took it all back with that look Raven sent him.

"How about the types who bring the dead back to life?"

Silence.

Cyborg managed to speak up, "Rae… please tell me you were just talking figuratively, there's no way all those soldiers-"

"Cyborg, all those soldiers up there were ghouls. Each and every one of them. Trust me, I almost got sick feeling all the…dead."

"Dude! Zombies with guns and bombs? That's not cool!"

Starfire's face hardened, "Even so, it is our duty to see this through and stop the Valentine's evil before she escapes."

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to do that if she knows what we can do?"

"BB's got a point. She may be crazy, but she's not stupid. She knew how to handle most of us, and she tried to break up the team. Frosty prolly told her what he knew about us."

Robin folded his arms, thinking, "Just because she knows a few of our powers doesn't mean she knows everything about us. If we move, we can still take her by surprise."

"Surprise? From a girl who knows how we fight?" Beast Boy asked, eyebrow raised.

"Trust me, she thinks she knows enough about us, meaning she won't know how to respond if we throw her for a loop."

"Got a plan, fearless leader?" Cyborg grinned.

"Of course."

Raven folded her arms, "Fine, but leave Valentine to me. For someone to play around with magic like that… this is personal."

-

-

-

"_Please_, tell me that you're done with your stupid motivational speeches, so you guys can just come out, and I can blast your butts." Valentine grumbled, face buried in her crook of her arms as she sat on her chair backwards, leaning to and fro impatiently.

The whole bottom row of monitors had petered out from the Leader-Kid and the Flying-Girl's escape, leaving nothing but empty corridors to stare at, or the eye-bleeding of her Boodoo People burning their way through the security vaults. She didn't have to worry about electronic locks, the torches were enchanted to disregard certain points of reality, and only treat the vault door as a giant metal slab to burn through.

"Come on, come on, come on-HEY!"

The camera view of the vaults suddenly petered out into static. Along with the one guarding the east corridor on the second floor, and the roofs, and the electronics storage…

One by one, each security monitor broke up into white noise and haze, leaving Valentine completely blind in the room.

"Tch, so they want to smoke me out, huh? I'll show them…" She pulled out the walkie-talkie and yelled into it, "All units! Converge on the vaults on the fifth floor! All units to me! Want to show down, huh? Doesn't matter what tricks, I'll get you…"

Her leather tome followed her in the air as Valentine kicked her way out into the halls, a deluge of armed and armored ghouls came marching behind her mindlessly, all of them making their way to the corridor that led to what would probably become a battlefield. There indeed were the torch-workers, now scattered across the floor and unmoving. Seriously, how do you stop a ghoul? Last Valentine heard, all you could do was just blow the guy up and make sure to shoot anything that still twitched.

_Mr. Owl? How many shots does it take to kill a zombie? Let's see, one, two, three! Three shots. How many shots does it take to kill a zombie? The world may never know… wait, thoughts wandering, stop it!_

As Valentine returned to reality, she found herself staring at Leader-Kid and Flying-Girl.

"That's it? And here I was expecting a grand ol' Alamo! Fire!" She snorted, before snapping her fingers into the air. With that, the entire front row opened up in gunfire.

Flying-Girl easily floated away behind a corner of the hall, but Leader-Kid some how managed to duck under the first volley before throwing out several orbs. As the bullets caught against the side of the balls, they exploded into a thick cloud that obscured the far end of the passage, leaving the Boodoo People to fire blindly.

"Stop! STOP SHOOTING!"

The moment she said that, green bolts of energy whizzed past Valentine's head, along with a healthy array of birdarangs. No need to disarm, this time, blasts and blades smashed into the front row, knocking them backwards unto the ground, where they floundered uselessly.

"It doesn't matter what you do to us, Valentine. The Titans won't give up." Was all Robin simply said.

Valentine broke into giggles, "This-this is unbelievable! You hero types-oh…geez! One minute you're running for your lives, and then you suddenly regroup and act all macho. And all under the same guns and the same People! I can never get enough of seeing you guys squirm and change your mind more times and a Schizoid! Jeez! You just crack me up!"

Just then, the Boodoo master leaned forward, grinning, "And it don't matter if you give up. I know all your super powers, so you're going down!"

A snap of the fingers. In unison, the Boodoo People lined up obediently, their metal shields in front, covering their entire bodies.

"Let's see your stupid boomerangs and firecrackers get through these shields! MARCH!"

The undead soldiers tromped forward past their leader, guns ready to bear down on the two titans. Suddenly, Leader-Kid was shouting into the ceiling.

"Cyborg! Beast Boy! Now!"

The ceiling paneling broke through, letting Robot-Guy (Cyborg) crash to the ground between the two parties. Not long after the Green-Guy (Beast Boy, was it?) fell from the hole above as well.

"Time for a Beast Boy-" The shape shifter began before falling into Robot-Guy's hands as an Armadillo.

"-BLITZ!" With that, mechanical strength hurled the green ball towards the approaching Boodoo wall. Valentine didn't even have time to wonder what idiocy they were getting at before the Armadillo suddenly transformed mid-flight into a rhinoceros.

She did have time to scream in horror, though, as the hulking form slammed into the group, knocking the crowded column backwards. As Beast Boy ploughed through the group, their leader suddenly found herself buried under lots of Boodoo flesh. By the end, the army was collapsed across the ground.

"Booyah! Strike!"

"Looks like you played too hard with your toys, Valentine." Robin said with a smirk and folded arms, watching a leg smash its way out of the Boodoo mess.

"But you guys broke them! Geez! You guys sure are mean for a buncha heroes…"

"And you are the meaner one, for shooting at me and my friends and attacking innocent people for fun!" Starfire accused.

"Girl's gotta have a fun hobby, right?"

"Yeah, and it's about to stop being fun in about three seconds!" Cyborg snorted, aiming his sonic cannon.

"Right! I don't hang around when things stop being fun, and three seconds' enough for that!" Valentine haughtily laughed. Another snap of the fingers brought her floating book into her grasp. The book started flipping through pages on its own command, while Valentine began to chant, "Arius, Trasium, Mysai, Vel-"

The black-suited girl's words were cut short when a giant black hand of energy closed around her torso from behind, squeezing air out of her lungs. As Valentine twisted around, she found the energy emanating from a floating Raven's hand, while her eyes narrowed in disgust, "You're not going anywhere."

Valentine sneered and coughed, "And for you darling… sure! Arius-Trasium-Mysai-DEUX!"

First thing Raven knew, she found the soul-self hand suddenly growing Valentine Insignias along its length like a horrendous growth, and everything turning white-

-

-

-

The next thing Raven knew, she found herself being kicked away, and flying downwards into a stack of crates. Wood splintered and flew everywhere, while the sorcerer tried to regain her bearings. In front of her, Valentine dropped to her feet.

Pulling her hood back over her face, Raven glared at the other, "Where are we?"

"We're in Warehouse 70, on the north side. So we're still in the STAR labs compounds. So I got what I want, and you got what you want, and now we're both alone, and we can have ALL the fun we want by ourselves!" Valentine happily announced, stretching her arms out beside her.

"Doesn't matter. The others wouldn't know how to handle someone like you anyways." Raven darkly muttered as she rose to her feet, hands beginning to glow with inverted colors.

"Oh, Reaally?" Valentine giggled, bringing her magic tome to float by her, "Okay, lil'miss lone wolf, let's see what you can do!"

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!"

Anything within Valentine's radius turned black and flew into the psychotic sorcerer, burying her under a pile of crates. Whispered words sneered right back.

"_Firnium Valus Etoil Bryase!"_

The wood blackened by magic, now blacked under extreme heat, as the mountain of rubble exploded outwards, tossing burning fragments everywhere. Raven only managed to float back with a shield as she watched her handy work burn away. In the center of the pyre, Valentine stood, her right sleeve un-burning with unnatural red flames, red sparks floating about her on command, along with the tome. With a wave of her arm, the sparks jetted towards Raven. As each missed, their trajectory only took them into more flammable materials, igniting and exploding, sending more flame everywhere.

"Where did you get the bodies to make the ghouls?" Jump City's first magician shouted into the heated air, tossing black energy and flaming debris.

"I buy them!" The second retorted, flinging red back.

"What-"

"Come on! Grave robbing is _so_ fifteenth century! Why bother when you can simply buy John and Jane Does from the local morgues? People everyday are clamoring for three hundred bucks a pop to sell their bodies after they die! That's business for me!"

"You reanimate the dead like it's GAME!"

Black.

"Why do you care? It's not like you're in human resources!"

Red.

"You just can't use magic like that! I suppose you make pacts with demons for the fun of it!"

Black.

Valentine thumbed her lips in thought at that, "Well… God of Time, but that's different-"

"-Zinthos!"

"AGH!"

Corrugated tin roofing slammed into the darker magician from above. Next thing she knew, the same metal was wrapping around her body leaving her pinned upper body floating towards Raven's open grasp, obviously hoping the grab her harshly by her collar and have some words on the "Ethics of bringing people who are dead anyways and don't care, back to life."

When pale gray hands grabbed the embroidery, it came back burnt and smoking. As Valentine dropped onto the burning floor, she was probably just as confused as Raven, only more knowledgeable.

Wait a sec, a reaction to my clothes? But I only sew in… because my clients at times…meaning… no way…

Valentine laughed one more time, "No way! I can't believe it! And you talk to me about using dark magic! Hi pot, my name's kettle! Ha ha! Metas Travas Sais Boz!"

The metal girdling that imprisoned Valentine unfolded itself off her, letting her arms free to dust the ash away from her collar.

Raven glared as she nursed her smoking palm, "What did you do to me?"

"You don't get it? I sometimes put some cursed threads into my clothes, just for fun. But every once in a while it does give some useful reactions: You got the boiling blood. I can't believe a place like this had people like you living here! Freezie sure knows how to pick his cities!"

Just then, Sonic beams smashed through the wall, revealing a hole in which other Titans realized how bad of an inferno warehouse 70 had become. Valentine clucked her tongue in distaste.

"Wow! Looks like our fun's over, lil' lone wolf blood boiler anti-socialite! Whew, sure is a cooker here, no? Then again, for people like us, once you're to the Underworld, it don't matter how toasty things ever get!"

Valentine began to step backwards. Raven followed, "You're not getting away with this!"

"I'm sure not getting away from this city! So I got what I want, and you got what you want! Anyways, Metrium Xaals Tryvase Peos!"

A giant bus smashed through the warehouse, and screeched to a halt, Valentine suddenly behind one of the windows and blowing a kiss, "Tonight was _wonderful_! Maybe we can go out another time! Ha ha!"

Between Raven's hisses and the warehouse finally falling apart, Valentine's bus suddenly drove into another dimension, disappearing.

-

-

-

And the entire time, Valentine just laughed her head off while she sat in her empty bus. Tonight was _so_ great. Beyond great! Indubitably fun! She shot people, made people squirm and run, got hit by Boodoo People, set stuff on fire, and got told off by people whose magic in her boiling blood came from the same source anyways! Lovely night! All fine as a flamingo! Or some metaphor like that.

Silent Night suddenly started doing a jingle in one of her pockets. Mr. Freeze's tune. Pulling out a metal red, metal gray phone from her pocket, she sang into her phone, "Hallo!"

_"Valentine, report the condition of your task."_

Task? Oh.

"Oh, about that! I kinda got carried away. Had too much fun playing around with the heroes to find a computer! I'm all sweaty, and now I gotta clean my suit-"

_"And once more, your recklessness has set us back again. Valentine, I sent you to STAR labs with the express purpose of colleting more powerful processing equipment."_

"Ah, don't worry about it! I hear that if you put enough regular computers in parallel, they equal a supercomputer!"

_"That does not change anything. You task has not changed. Get more processing power."_

"Geez! Lighten up! Get a life!"

_"Having emotional response is why you have so far given a disappointing display, while I have obtained funds within hours yesterday. Do not disappoint me, Valentine."_

"Geez! Who died and made you boss?"

_"Mr. Phillis, in Nevada, the night you accidentally set the casino on fire which resulted in his death. His dying wish was that I take care of you."_

"I knew that old man liked us!"

_"I am cutting communication now."_

"Later, ole Freezie!"

-

-

-

In the darkness, Mr. Freeze snapped his phone shut. He had found Valentine's female teammate she demanded. Since she made no remarks on the nature of whom would be good, it simply took Mr. Freeze a bit of research to find the most easily attainable "evil woman" and call it a night. If she didn't like it, Freeze figured the colloquial term was "Tough", and that she should have specified.

Another lighter in hand, Freeze changed the ground under her into soft snow, making sure of no chance of damage as he pulled the unmoving form off and onto his shoulder. She was heavy, but Freeze had worse.

As the pair was about to leave, Freeze noted the inscription on the ground. The words irked him just the slightest. He knew that he shouldn't make any reckless action, but…

Frozen flames washed over the plaque, before a booted foot stomped the last line into oblivion. Cold blue eyes knew better than whoever wrote those foolish emotional words.

"There are no such things as true friends."

-

-

-

**Episode 3: "The Members Cometh" – It's time for things to come together, and for Mr. Freeze and Valentine to get new friends in the city. But between inept villain wannabes and an unintentional attempt to destroy the city, will things ever work out?**


	3. The New Members Cometh

Fists flew, sweat flew, bodies flew.

In the ring, thronged by hundreds of jeering and cheering faces, two bodies swayed around each other in the ring, ducking, parrying, jerking, punching.

This ring wasn't easy to be found. This wasn't play-wrestling, this wasn't official boxing. This fighting took place in the back alleys, and worked their way up to the crowds in the seedy warehouses.

This crowd wanted to actually see blood. And here he was, giving it.

Well, like mammy always used to say, better to give than to receive, huh?

He ducked under a roundhouse, letting the wind swoosh over his brown hair. He crouched even lower; letting his feet twirl under him, tripping the challenger out from under him. An axe kick down on the fallen foe, unbelievably letting the blow bounce the man off the mat, before a quick punt launched him even higher up. As the challenger fell, he unloaded all his strength through his right arm (He didn't want to bloody the fellow, Left was overkill), tossing the man over the ring.

A bell was rung.

"Guys! Once again, your reigning champion, give it up for DEVIL HAND!" Mikey's voice shouted in the distance.

"Come on guys! Let me feel the love!"

Devil Hand got an empty beer can to the face instead.

-

-

-

Devil Hand followed frantically after the fattish Mikey as the two of them made their way through the empty warehouse and into a shoddy office that was only meant for holding down business whenever a fight took place here.

"Come on, Mikey! You can't just tell me to do that!" 'Devil Hand' begged, following after. So he was a brawler at eighteen, yes, but that didn't mean he had to be rude when off-duty.

"D', it's as simple as that, okay? I honestly like you, right? I'm just trying to help out here!" Mikey retorted, annoyed, "And for freak's sake, change out of that already! You look like some super-villain wannabe, which you're not!"

Mieky sat down in the aged chair, while D' looked down at himself. Red leather jacket was fine, but the tight black shirt with the minimalist red cross on the front? Meh. Double meh for the same design printed on the sides of the pant legs, vertical bar stretching down, horizontal bar wrapping around the width. Brown boots rode up the shins and covered up the tacky pants there. But if the cowboy effect wasn't enough, he had to do it with the red cowboy hat and sunglasses. And brown hair that went down and framed the sides of his face. Curiously though, while his right hand bore fingerless gloves, his left was exposed, showing the ghoulish blue flame tattoos that inked up the near whole of the back of that hand.

"Hey, man! I like how I look!"

"With how you dress you look like a… man, I don't even want to know what you look like! And the only reason why you like it still is because anyone who don't, you just stick their heads through the wall. Now back on topic, D'!" Mikey hoarsely chided.

"Look, when I came here, you said 'fight', so I'm fighting! Is it a crime for me to win?"

"It is when you keep winning for months in a row, okay! People want to see shifts in the victories, and when some –pardon me- punk shows up and just keeps winning, it gets dull!"

"So what, you just want me to _lose_?"

"D' it's only a few times! Winning ain't everything!"

"But I can't compromise my standards! I'll lose because I wasn't good enough! Not because I'm unpopular enough with the crowds! That's like saying they get a poll on whether I should die or something! I'm not gonna let myself sell out like that! If they don't like me, I'll just quit… wait-"

"Sorry D' but that's the only other thing you can do at this point."

Devil Hand clutched his head in horror, "I can't quit! I gotta pay my rent! You know I just got a place for once? I can't just not make any money! And I just can't lose on purpose either! I'd be a sell out! Mikey, please tell me there's gotta be someplace I can find work just beating people up, right?"

"Well… no. Seriously, D'. I like you, and I don't even know your real name! Just that you're a punk with that crazy left arm…and I can't tell you this, it's just stupid-"

"Come on, Mikey! We're buds, like you say! Anything to help me out!"

"…You're sure about this?"

"Any work at all! Just a place where I can get my Z's without getting kicked out for rent!"

Mikey sighed, before reaching under the desk to pull out a slip of paper, "Okay, just the other day, some girl popped by in a bus. I'd figure she's some nut, but after looking at her real close, she's actually the sort of nut that's actually dangerous. She was handing out flyers to everyone, and giving them a real dare for trying anything stupid. Dangerous, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, dangerous nut girl, so what?"

"The paper says she was part of some… thing, organization or something. Looking for hired muscle, but only the best of the best. And she was asking for super-freak best, like the psychos that play sandcastle with the city every other week, got it?"

"You mean like… super villa-"

"Don't say that word, D'! That's just junk in the comics! But they are asking for hired muscle, and seeing that your so insistent for looking for a paying fight, I have no choice but to give this to ya'."

"Thanks, Mikey, you're a pal!"

"Shut up."

With that Devil Hand took up the paper, and read quietly to himself.

"Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons?"

-

-

-

**The New Members Cometh**

**-**

**-**

**-**

Valentine crossed her arms defiantly, her arms changing the patterns of blood smears on her smock and apron, and glared the evilest glare she could make.

"No."

Mr. Freeze sat the statue down on the cold tiles and looked back.

"You demanded a female member. I have delivered her."

The two of them were standing in Valentine's "room", which also doubled as her factory. Around them, unmoving forms lay on cold metal tables and were covered in sheets. Above them, traveling like some sort of twisted slaughterhouse, stainless steel coffins were being carried through the air on mechanical hooks, deposited in little nooks built into the walls, or being reordered in whatever way Valentine's logic worked. In a corner of the massive factory was where the only semblance of human life resided. Books and Volumes were piled up in a little fortress around a wood desk littered with notes, stained and aged with time, little lamps lying here and there, contrasting warm orange with cold fluorescent blue. Lined up against the back of the wall, a large imposing statue of a lion-headed figure carrying an hourglass on its back stood. In a corner, a mess of monitors and TV screens were being set up for some reason.

And in the center of it all, a boy, a girl, and a statue were arguing.

"Not her! Anybody but her! I thought you read the files of Jump City! Do you _know_ her?"

Freeze's sharp eyebrow rose, "You also read the history of Jump City?"

"The recent years, yes!"

"Curious. I was almost convinced that the only literary works that interested you were books of magic or surgical procedures-"

"Don't get off topic! I don't like her!" Valentine protested, pointing at the statue.

"You did not specify whether your female team member had to be some one of your predilection."

"So you just decided to pick the _easiest_ person? Do you even know anything about her?"

"Name, Terra. Triple Agent. Former affiliations, local crime-fighting agency dubbed 'Teen Titans', and criminal known as Slade, as of this moment, deceased. Known for displaying high-level geokinesis, was instrumental for Slade's attempt to control the city, more than capable of handling each member of the crime-fighting agency, as was last recorded. Currently considered deceased, given her unusual bodily condition. That is the extent of my knowledge, Valentine."

"And do you know how Slade died?"

"Eyewitnesses claimed he was hurled into a magma flow outside of Jump City, when Terra had attempted to call a volcanic eruption to destroy the city."

"Oswald! For your all your emotional dead-ness, you sure are stupid!"

Mr. Freeze's eyes narrowed harshly at the name, "Oswald Friece is considered deceased. His body has never been recovered from the desert."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Point is, Terra here was with the Titans, then she went to Slade, then she went _back_ to the Titans! I'm not trusting anyone who cheats out on other people because she was feeling Achey-Breaky Heart at the moment!"

"Your trust is at your discretion, not mine. Do what you want with her. I have to prepare for the interviews."

Freeze turned smartly on his heel and left the factory, leaving the two girls alone. Valentine glared at the statue.

"I know what _you're_ thinking. Just because I can reanimate the dead, plus I have tons of books on magic, doesn't mean you deserve any of it! No, I'm not tempted to fix _you_!"

The statue only looked on blankly.

-

-

-

Maybe the idea of interviewing for potential members was lapse of judgment on Mr. Freeze's part. After all, having so many criminals in one location would be something similar to shooting objects inside a barrel for the local authorities.

But never mind, here they all were, great and small, crowded in the lower lobbies at the bottom of the mountain.

"May I have all your attention please."

Everyone turned to the fifteen-year-old pale boy in a winter jacket, sucking on a tube that gave off white mist.

"I am Mr. Freeze, co-founder for the… Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons, I would like to thank you all for coming here today-"

"You're just a kid!" A particular man in a large mechanical suit complained.

"…Continuing, coming here today. Only people with prepared resumes are eligible for interview, and interviews will be conducted-"

"Adonis is not taking shots from little kids who look like they stay indoors all day!" The same man snorted.

Suddenly murmurs started to agree. Freeze took this all in stride. "I assure you, that I am more than capable of making decisions, despite my age-"

"Look at you! What's the matter? Mommy afraid you might get a cold in the middle of spring? Wanted you all bundled nice and tight? Next up you'll be wearing rain boots!"

There were snickers everywhere, curious to see how this was going to turn out.

"Mr. Adonis, if you continue to take this indignant tone with me, I shall have no choice but to disallow you from auditioning and expel you from this premises."

The robot armor shook with the man's laughter, as he stepped forward, cracking his steel knuckles. "And what's a little muscleless twerp like you going to do about it? I bet I can just kick you out myself and take the leader role for myself!"

People cheered around Adonis' proclamation. Mr. Freeze hummed. "So you wish for me to demonstrate my physical prowess over yours?"

"Like you can! Ha, ha, ha!"

The two closed in on each other, people starting to mutter, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Mr. Adonis, I hope you realize that the leadership role is not indicative of the level of physical ability-" Mr. Freeze began, before his head was suddenly found underneath the floor, Adonis' metal fist on top. Everyone around cheered, while the hand curled itself around Freeze's head and lifted his limp body in the air.

"Not so tough are you, little pen pusher? Interviews? Don't make me laugh!"

Freeze's arm suddenly moved on its own, lifting a lighter with a blue flame to Adonis' mechanical wrist. In a moment, a layer of ice hand collected on the underside, while Freeze's other hand smashed through the weakened steel, twisting around his hand to the delicate insides.

"Hey! Get your hand out of there!" Adonis roared, before dropping the body.

Mr. Freeze fell out of his grip, in his own hand he pulled out a fuel line from the open innards that fed the hand motions of Adonis. As he landed on his knees, Freeze brought the blue of the lighter to the fluid pouring out. Like a flame catching on gas, ice traveled up the feed lines, up and into Adonis' armor.

The armor promptly burst apart into a pile of red metal and white ice and snow, a shivering skinny man in a red suit buried up to the waist in it all.

Everyone was silent as Freeze spoke up again.

"And for those of you late comers, I repeat that I only accept those who have a prepared resume, and interviews will be done in last name alphabetical order. Please line up."

-

-

-

Valentine eyes narrowed.

The statue remained blissfully unaware.

Valentine's grip on the tome tightened.

"I am reading this out of my _own_ enjoyment. I am _not_ tempted."

-

-

-

Freeze sat behind the fold-up table, looking over the credentials.

"Name?"

"I am the master of monsters! I am your greatest nightmare come to life! I am- CONTROL FREAK!"

"I see. And which one of these titles would be your preferred alias?"

-

-

-

As Valentine turned a page, she found something that piqued her interest.

"I didn't know I had spells from Japan! Hmm… spells to animate the inanimate using ink…"

She looked up. The statue was still there.

"Don't even think about it. I am not going to de-rock you… even if I do have… all the ingredients… and spells… and… curiosity to see if it actually will work…"

-

-

-

"DON'T YOU DARE REJECT ME! I CAN MAKE MY DADDY DESTROY YOUR STUPID SECRET LAIR IF I WANTED HIM TO!"

"Ms. Kitten, please consider this from a logical point of view. This organization requires much training, experience, and a full time commitment. At this point of time, I cannot see how your being head cheerleader in your high school can possibly be considered-"

"BUT MY BOYFRIEND'S ROBBING STUPID JEWELERY STORES IS CONSIDERED USEFUL? HE GETS CAUGHT ALL THE TIME!"

"His experience in the field is far more applicable, Ms. Kitten. I'll put you in file, and refer back to you when you graduate from high school-"

"GRRRYAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!"

-

-

-

Sparks and electricity moved across the room, before suddenly stopping. As Valentine coughed and waved away magic fumes, she saw the handy work in the center of the circle.

Rock had converted back into a golden tuft of hair.

Picking it up, Valentine looked back at the unmoving statue.

"Okay! So I proved it worked after all! That doesn't mean I'm going to try it on once living people okay? No… NO!"

-

-

-

"But surely, everybody loves magicians!"

Mr. Freeze folded his arms, "Mr. Mumbo. I already have a practitioner of the magic arts in my group. Unless you can display useful skills that she cannot perform, then I have no need for additional sorcerers."

"Ah-ha! Can she do THIS?"

Cards and rabbits flew everywhere.

"…"

"Ah-ha! The Amazing Mumbo's magic is proven as unique and splendid as ever!"

"Just because it is unique, does not mean it is useful."

"Well… er…"

"Next."

-

-

-

Next. Next. Next. Next. I am sorry, Mr. Rancid, shooting up the city on a joy ride does not count for you very highly. Next. Next. Next. Curious. Thank you for your time, we'll call you if anything comes up. Next next next next next…

-

-

-

_I have a suspicion that every villain in this city is inept to the point of… oh…what is the word Valentine uses? Want to be? No, wait… that is a phrase…must be one of those strange, ill grammar slang phrases Valentine uses to assert her positive influence on popular society. Pitiful. One only needs to speak correctly, and those with their weak emotions get played along in frenzy of it all. How illogical. In any regards… all of them seem to be lacking direction. All of them only seem to be concerned with destroying the city, yet I cannot even distinguish a purpose why…_

A hand knocked against the metal side of the entrance, alerting Mr. Freeze to one more.

"Um… hello? Anyone here? I heard that a foundation here was hiring muscle… so… I came to apply!"

Across the empty lobby was some ruffian in a vaguely cowboy outfit. Mr. Freeze wondered if he should just give in and glower for once, but kept his face straight while talking, "You are extremely late. All other applicants have left already."

"Sorry! I mean… I was kinda lost for a while. Didn't know how to get up here."

"Irrelevant. You are the last; I shall make time for one more. Sit down."

"Thanks, boss." The cowboy humbly grinned and nodded his head before seating himself.

"Resume?"

"Oh yeah! Here!"

Silence.

"You know… you're kinda young for a super villain dude." The cowboy said, curiously.

Mr. Freeze didn't even look over the top of his paper as he retorted, "Only one other man said that to me during the interviews. He left rejected, nearly naked, and with a light case of hypothermia."

"Oh… sorry if I offended you-"

"Name?"

"Oh! Devil Hand."

"Preferred Alias?"

"…Devil Hand?"

"…Well, Mr. Hand-"

"Excuse me? But, er… you say the whole thing together. Like it's connected with that little word thing where you put the line thing in between."

"You mean a dash?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Very well, Mr. Devil Hand. I can see… but in your own words, I would like to hear your prior experience."

"Well, I went to high school in Texas for a while, but I left after I graduated, because my family sucked. So I drifted a bit, till I got to this city a couple'a'months ago. So I started making some money in the ring, ya know? Woosh, Woosh?"

"…"

"er… yeah, so I make my money, and I get real popular since I'm good a beating people up in the ring. So I get really popular, then everybody hates me, so I say to myself, 'D' if you your not getting anywhere fast with all this fighting, find some place where you can get fast fighting.' And then I land myself one of your ads, and I go, 'sweet! This is the life for me!' Got it?"

"…I see. In short, your prior experience consists mainly of committing Assault in controlled environments."

"Yeah, I guess that's what the fancy way of saying it is."

"Do you carry any form of expertise or skill that distinguishes you from others?"

"Well, I beat up people real good, if that helps. Maybe your team needs someone who's just good at being down and dirty at it. Oh, and I got this-"

Devil Hand reached for his left sleeve, and pulled back the crumpled red leather, revealing an arm nearly completely tattooed in a continuous design of ghoulish blue flames. In the center of the back of the hand, there was a clean circle of flesh, with another circle of ink, making the hand look suspiciously like an eye.

Mr. Freeze peered at the arm for a while, "I assume you mean this arm carries special properties?"

"Oh yeah, boss! This here makes me super! It's a God Hand!"

"God Hand? And you are the Devil Hand?"

"I'm Devil Hand, and this here's technically supposed to be called a God Hand, but my family sucks, so I call myself Devil Hand."

"And apart from this, your main expertise is in close quarters combat and martial arts?"

"Well… if that's the fancy way of saying beating people up good."

"Devil Hand, you also claim that you wish to join our organization due to your financial situation?"

"Yeah, like I say, I was needing money and a place to catch some Z's"

"Mr. Devil Hand, you must realize though that this organization is non-profit."

"Huh? But ain't you guys all…er…"

"That is to say, we do not have a affixed salary. All funds are based on donations and charities received from the city. Understood?"

"Yup! That means I just gotta work hard to make the city like us and give us greens!"

Just then, the entire tower shook violently, before suddenly stopping.

"Dude, boss. You got earthquakes?"

"No. It is most likely my associate performing an experiment. Ah, this is her right now."

Valentine's smoky form poured itself out of the elevator along with the smog behind her. If looks could kill, whatever the sorcerer used on Mr. Freeze simply fazed off his blank face, and murdered Devil Hand instead.

"Freeze… EASIEST FEMALE TEAMMATE TO GET MY BUTT!"

-

-

-

Red Klaxons blared.

"Cyborg, what's going on?"

"Dunno what it is, man, but an earthquake's moving from the outskirts of the city right into it. At the rate it's going, it might total the whole city!"

"Then we're not giving it that chance. Titans, move!"

-

-

-

The T-Car slid to a halt at an intersection; as the seismic anomaly was just about to round the corner. All five of them got out, ready for battle as Robin pointed at the intersection.

"Get ready guys. Remember, no matter who's behind it, we're stopping it now!"

A thunderous step came after another, announcing the presence had arrived. Soon enough the asphalt started to crack like something heavy and beyond imaginable size was stepping on it.

Then it rounded the corner. Its shape froze Robin's instinctive "Titans, go" halfway up his throat.

A lithe stony creature, yellow light veining its body at various point. It turned to look at the Titans with eyes of shining of nothing but yellow.

Beast Boy found his voice first, albeit it was shaky, "T-Terra?"

Whatever it was, it merely screamed hoarse yellow light from its mouth, before it picked up a street with amber energy and hurled it at them.

-

-

-

A bus flew through the air, before bouncing to the ground and continuing to drive full speed into the city. Behind the wheel was a snarling and frustrated Valentine. Pitching wildly between the seats and the handlebars were Mr. Freeze and Devil Hand.

"Valentine, deceiving people was never one of my strong points-"

"You tricked me! You so totally tricked me! You just left me there and I couldn't but see if it would work!"

"That is just your natural curiosity abounding out of hand again."

"Um… guys. What am I doing here?"

Valentine turned around with another of those death-glare things that only killed Devil Hand, "SHUT UP! YOU'RE HERE SO YOU HELP!"

"Yes'm!" Was the squeaked reply.

"Valentine, are you actually going to inform us as to what occurred in your factory, as well as why we are here?" Mr. Freeze duly asked next.

"Fine! Since you were _so_ insistent about it, I decided to go and try and bring the stupid traitor back to life! I was going to get God of Time to pull a favor and put a paradox in the room so her existence moved backwards, while everything else still moved forward. Then I also tried on of those Japanese animation spells, and those took a lot of trouble to make candles out of hardened ink… plus the circle design so finicky… and I had to put an alchemic array on top of it all, and then-"

"Valentine. Layman, and to the point."

"The combination spell backfired before I could finish it, okay? Everything worked until she decided to become conscious as I was about to do the alchemy, then she went psycho and busted out, and now she's going into the city, and you two are going to help me get her, because VALENTINE LOSES TO NO ONE!"

"I would have assisted you in any situation, Valentine."

"Dude, Val', if you woke up her up, how come she's all psycho?"

"Because a rock is not a human brain. As far as I'm concerned, she's just a fancy-made golem with some residual impulses and emotions that she has from her old form! And don't call me Val' until I give you the right!"

"So, uh, bosses, one more thing. We're the bad guys right? And she's destroying the city, right? Ain't that what bad guys do? Unleash monsters and cause mayhem and all that?"

"We are a group that commits self-gratification by abusing our powers. Taxpayers' money is being wasted on repairs, when it could have sat in a bank vault to be robbed by us. Understand?"

"And I only unleash monsters which are sanctioned by the Valentine Foundation! Golems, pah! Next up they'll be wanting me to make robot armies!"

Devil Hand wondered when bad guys ever got so… commercial. But the thought was quickly quashed as the bus speed through the air and back onto the ground, catching sight of a battlefield up ahead, where a yellow rock form was hurling all earthen matter at something around the corner, which they could not see.

"Hey! Val', Boss! That the thing you were talking about?"

Mr. Freeze only looked at the battlefield for an instant before deciding, "Valentine. Reach the natural maximum speed of this vehicle, and collide with Terra."

"Huh!"

"What!"

"I said, reach maximum speed and collide with her."

"My BUS!"

"Dude! You're gonna kill her!"

"Yes, with your bus we are in, and no, I have judged that Terra will survive the impact. Do it. Now."

-

-

-

"Terra! You must remember us! It is your friend-"

Starfire was promptly cut off by another flying piece of pavement narrowly dodged. Beast Boy also closed the distance, pleading.

"C'mon Terra! Snap out of it! It's us! It's me!"

Beast Boy yelped and jumped away from a deep fissure that stretched towards him, created by a single stomp by the Terra-looking stone creature.

Raven sighed, "Seriously, Beast Boy. I don't think she's going to wake up just from the sound of your melodious voice."

"Well, what do you suggest then?"

"Simple. Prioritize the city over her."

"But-"

Robin cut in, "She's right Beast Boy, we have to get her out of the city before she does any more damage to it, we can deal with her directly after that."

Cyborg pointed in shock, "Well, fearless leader, better start moving her fast. Look!"

They did, and froze at the sight of the golem beginning to raise the entire street behind it, preparing to hurl it at its foes.

It was promptly interrupted by a bus that launched the creature several blocks down the street in another direction, though it cost the bus itself a fairly crumpled front from the impact.

As the side door squeaked open, a cowboy and a blue hood came out, inspecting the impact from outside the cracked windows.

"Dude! You hit it!"

"Yes, we did."

"With a bus!"

"Correct again."

"A bus! Hit a rock girl! A rock girl!"

"Yes."

"Come on! How often does that happen? A bus. Hit. A rock girl! Like, bamf! BAMF! Like… dude! You just hit her with a bus!"

Robin's voice suddenly cut in harshly, catching both their attention, "Freeze!"

Mr. Freeze nodded his head respectfully, "My esteemed adversaries. I commend you on your isolating Terra. The Friece and Valentine Foundation will take over from here."

"So you're the ones behind this!"

"Valentine was instrumental to the revitalization of the current incarnation of Terra, yes."

"Whatever you're planning to do to Terra, we're not going to let you get away with it! Titans!"

With that, the heroes reformed around their leader. Mr. Freeze hummed.

"Emotions, how they get one assured so conclusively, despite details… Devil Hand."

The cowboy turned to Mr. Freeze, "Yes, boss?"

"I will consider your application with greater care and scrutiny if you give me a live demonstration of your skill. Please delay the local crime-fighting agency while Valentine and I apprehend our wayward teammate."

Devil Hand's jaw dropped, before it started to explain itself to the boy that stepped up into the bus, "Woah, woah, woah! You mean… me… against, all of them? All five of them? Dude, boss, I only took on little punks in the past, but this is kinda a big leap and-"

Freeze turned around, ice-dead eyes under the hood stopping the pugilist in mid-speech, "I only expect your best effort. I'm placing my confidence in you, Devil Hand. Valentine, proceed."

With that, the bus drove of, leaving a Devil Hand with a strangled gasp and five Titans.

_Okay, think positive, think positive, think positive-_

Devil Hand swirled around, hysterically guffawing and slamming a palm into his fist, "Okay! You all dorks… with super powers! I'll beat up you all… real good, 'cause I'm Devil Hand… and I'm… really strong!"

"Back off, Devil Hand. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." Robin coldly stated.

"Hey! I may be a greenhorn'n'all, but boss wants me to keep you all here, so that's what I'll do!"

"Fine. Titans, go!"

Between all the laser beams and black clouds and green glowing stuff and animals and bo-staffs and flying blades, Devil Hand seriously wondered what he was getting himself into as he suddenly found himself doing a diving drop kick into the robot-guy's face, and spring boarding off him to one of the flying girls and making her eat asphalt.

-

-

-

"Freezie, you sure that D' can handle himself?"

"No… but there is a fair probability of his success."

"Meaning you trust him."

"Trust is only theorizing which percentage of a simulation applies more accurately real-life situation. On other matters, what must you do to remedy the matter of the rampant geokinetic?"

"She's pretty much unstoppable right now. I gotta put down the alchemy array I was gonna use, get her into it, and transmute the rest of the body to finish what I started."

"And in the meantime, I must somehow distract Terra while ensuring that none of us receives any fatal injury before or after your alchemy."

Valentine scoffed, "And D' thinks he's got a hard job?"

"Yes, I agree with that statement. Open the door, Valentine, I see her."

Approaching the berserk yellow energy, Freeze leapt out the side of the bus, his lighter painting a path frozen for his feet to skate upon. In the middle of its rampage, the golem noticed Mr. Freeze headed towards it. The golem reacted defensively, like anybody would if a hooded thug was bearing down on him or her.

Thrown pavement, torn away bricks. Anything around the boy in blue was hurled at him, while he narrowly ducked and slid out of the way of each, getting closer and closer, while Valentine's bus turned a corner and headed further and further.

_The same trajectory of attack, and no attempt to move backwards to create defensive space. Perhaps this form, moving by only instinct, lacks an aptitude for strategy?_

No time for that, though. Freeze decided to ponder on that later as he reached striking distance. Manipulating the flames, he proceeded to blast the Terra-creature point blank with his flames, letting himself ride up and over the forming ice, until he was skating over a mound of hard ice, and back to the ground. Sliding to a stop behind his handy work, Mr. Freeze kept ready.

The frozen prison didn't even last ten seconds. Fissures erupted around it, splitting the ice while earthen pillars jutted out from under it, freeing the screaming beast. It turned its golden gaze on the apathetic blue form, and raged. Moving like of a life of their own, the piles of solidified dirt rushed towards Freeze. Reacting, Freeze also shot out his small metal weapon while stepping forward heavily, letting the flames wash over the sections and come out as rock-solid ice. With a hand gesture, the two pillars changed trajectory in mid-flight, crashing to the ground on either side of him.

The golem was far less than pleased to see its own handy work moving in ways without its consent. Roaring, it felt around it, looking for something heavier.

Mr. Freeze looked on as more objects floated into the air, readying for attack.

"It is rather ludicrous. You are so angry, you wish to hit me more and more, yet your anger also mentally limits your attack options, lowering your probability of a successful hit."

Skating away from the progressively larger boulders, only Mr. Freeze could make a monotone statement sound like a sigh.

"Emotions…"

-

-

-

Devil Hand's bastardization of Jujitsu, Capoeira, Wushu, Judo, Tae Kwan Do, Boxing, Jeet Kun Do, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Savate, and… whatever else really, none of them simply wasn't stopping any of his five opponents. Considering that one of them had martial skills as good as him, two of them simply flew out of reach, one was made of steel you couldn't even dent, and one turned into a freakin' _Grizzly Bear…_

_Look D', just shut up and- GO!_

Devil Hand clenched his teeth in effort as he punched upwards into the green bear's downwards-swiping paw, knocking it away. A lunging elbow cracked into the Beast-Bear's forehead, making the gigantic animal stumble, but hardly topple from the blow. It took all of the latest villain-to-be's strength, dug in the ground, driving forth with his tattooed Left, to launch his enemy away from him and into a car.

Of course, just then, Starfire suddenly had to fly in out of nowhere and start blowing things up around Devil Hand.

_Seriously D', you need superpowers. You can't lose. You never lost. Not once in your lives. You used to have them all those befores, you need them NOW!_

_Just need to know how to get them…_

Devil Hand dashed towards a lamppost, ready to kick off it and leap towards the little princess, but there was that thing about the whole stalk of metal suddenly turning black and ripping out of the ground and batting the mid-leaping pugilist into the side of a building across the street. As he fell out onto his knees, D' looked up and rolled away in time for a charging Triceratops to smash into the wall beside him.

Cyborg then suddenly came in out of the corner of D's vision, charging with metal fists. Swiveling around to meet the threat, Devil Hand easily swayed and ducked under the first couple of wild swings, before Cyborg flew forward with his right fist heading towards the pugilist's gut. Devil Hand, with both hands, managed to catch the appendage by the wrist before it connected.

Of course, he realized his mistake as he watched his grip fumble when the arm began to split up into a familiar glowing barrel.

_Carp._

The stream of blue sonic impacted into him with enough force to bend the young villain in two as it knocked every single particle of breath out of him. Picking Devil Hand off his feet, he flew backwards into a wall of green leathery flesh, and collapsed to the ground while the rest of the suddenly rhinoceros form lay on top of him, pinning him between cement below and a hard place above. Hissing from the heavy weight and the pain, Devil Hand tried to grasp anything to pull himself away with his free left hand. But no, Beast Boy's sheer weight on him wouldn't budge.

He found metal plated boots in front of his vision, "It's over, Devil Hand."

"Dude! It's so not over! I ain't losing to a buncha… kids!"

Cyborg snorted as he aimed his sonic cannon at the downed fighter, "How 'bout you spend some time with an older guy, then?" Turning back to the rest of the team, Cyborg turned a concerned eye, "Robin, I'll take care of him. You guys gotta get to Terra before Frosty and Ghoul Girl do whatever they're planning to do."

"Fine, Beast Boy, stay with Cyborg and keep… sitting on Devil Hand here."

The look in the rhino's blank eye obviously showed vehement dissatisfaction at the his task, whether it was because of the guard job, or maybe…

"Beast Boy, I know you want to help Terra, but you can help her best by making sure he," Robin explained, pointing at the villain, "doesn't come and interfere. Got it?"

Beast Boy seemed to, but it didn't get rid of all the look. As the remaining three Titans flew off towards the sounds of havoc deeper in the city, Devil Hand's frustration grew.

_I can't lose! I get an actual cool gig, and the first job I lose? I can't do that! Boss counts on me! I can't lose… I'm not going to lose!_

As the rage and frustration burned and swelled and washed over his head, Devil Hand failed to notice the tattoos on his left arm beginning to glow an ember orange, the smell of brimstone wafting into the air…

-

-

-

The golem rose up into the air, supported by the floating rubble under it as it dodged the torrent of frozen flames that passed underneath. Down below on the frozen wasteland, Mr. Freeze brought another white cylinder to his lighter nonchalantly before moving it to his mouth, smoking out white mists as he watched everything. Eventually, he decided to pull out his phone, dialing a familiar number.

"Valentine. Report your status."

_"Freakin- Stop calling me! Alchemy is a very precise thing! I might screw it up, and then I'd have to start over! This thing takes time!"_

"Valentine, Terra is currently levitating in the air beyond my range, while gathering another arsenal. I also… see three of the local crime prevention agency in the distance; meaning Devil Hand has been defeated. I cannot distract them any longer. I must direct Terra to your location now, regardless of the state of your spell."

_"Fine! I'll get it done by then. Stupid achey-breaky heart can't wait for anything…Locium, Vindai, Mundo, Accel."_

The sudden memory of Valentine's location invaded Mr. Freeze's brain. Without warning, he snapped his phone shut and lashed out with his lit weapon. The flames washed over more of the hurled rocks, turning them into brown slush that fell apart about the boy in blue.

_Valentine was always more skilled in taunting._ "You, up there. If you still retain any conception of the English language, I condemn your horrid use of battle strategy and wasted potential of your ability. The terms for you are asinine, ignoramus, and most of all, a discomfort to me due to your high weight."

Whatever Freeze said, one of the following seemed to touch off something nasty in the golem's nature, giving it another shrieking roar as it dived down towards Mr. Freeze, who was already skating down another street while the flying rock chariot and artillery continued to bear down on the cold youth.

Pillars of earth exploded from the ground, stones hailed from the sky, and it was all one could do to not get crushed under the onslaught. Leaping high into the air, the boy swiveled about and fired a wide blast of blue into the space immediately in front of him. Manipulating the flames, the rampaging force, yellow aura, rocks, and all, was suddenly separated from Freeze by a gigantic wall of ice that stretched from building to building. The dull thunder of stones smashing against the hardened ice proved its worth.

Freeze dropped to the ground, inspecting his work for a second. It should be enough to make another head start.

That was before the three Titans dropped out of the sky, Starfire carrying Robin with Raven alongside, landing in front of the villain as he just turned around.

"Looks like you're trapped between a rock and a hard place, Freeze." Robin couldn't help but snipe, as they all adjusted their stances with various extra powers and weapons.

"I hope you realize this is not the time to engage in dialogue or combat. Your alleged 'rocks' in this case, would have no qualm with destroying either party, which would critically this city's ability to defend itself from Terra, and make it much more difficult for Valentine to complete her task. Now if you will excuse me-"

"You're not going anywhere!" Robin shouted, cutting in with glare.

There was a groan that shuddered its way through the group. Freeze turned around with a deadpan; looking at the sight of deep cracks moving up the side of the ice wall, "That is not advisable for any of us."

That was when the gigantic river of mud and slush churned its way through the shattering ice, the torrent rushing towards the four of them. Before any of them could react reasonably, they were all washed under the flood. The golem, surfing with its bare feet over the mass of it all, gave what sounded like a cry of victory. It kept a semblance of concentration on the mudslide below her, willing it to always keep moving, never rest, never until everything underneath was drowned and bursting from the seams in mud-

"Hey! Clayface!" A sneering voice chirruped out of the way of the tide.

The golem whipped about.

Down a street, there stood Valentine, arms folded. Behind her was her bus, though strangely, the engine hood was open, two jumper cables twining its way from the machine and clipped to two stakes pounded into the ground ahead of her. Wooden panels with painted symbols on them also were scattered about the paved lane.

"Yeah that's right, you cheap, achey-breaky traitor! I'm talkin' to you! So what crawled up your rock butt and gave you a bad mood, huh? Yeah, and be sure to speak in advanced cave-man this time!"

The golem roared at the discordant slander.

"What's the matter? Got a problem? Why don't you come over here and say it to my face than hide up there like a coward! Come on!" Valentine mocked, taking a step back and waving towards herself with her arms.

The mudslide easily turned about in its coursed and hurtled down the street towards the sorcerer. It collapsed pathetically the moment it came within feet of the wooden panels that lay all over the street. The drowning prisoners within the mud fell out, unconscious.

"Yeah-ha! Valentine Foundation approved magic wards prove themselves again!" The owner of the aforementioned whooped, not caring a bit about the conditioned of the freed.

The yellow glowing creature got to its feet confused, and tried to raise the mud. But every time the mess attempted to rise again, it seemed to gravity suddenly heightened on the matter, and forced it uselessly back to the ground again.

The creature sputtered, screamed, raged. How dare her element become powerless! First the blue thing told her element things she did not command, and now this! This was Sacrilege! Blasphemy! Heresy! This was not so!

"Yo! Achey-breaky Clayface with something crawled up its butt traitor girl! You done whining yet? 'Cause, I like to get this done now."

And it was all _her_ fault!

The golem roared and rushed down the street, no longer able to control any more of the earth around her, other than what she was made of. All that was left on its mind was the sheer desire to use_ anything _to pummel that delighted, grinning face. With its fists, if that was all left. As it rushed down the street, Valentine pranced into her bus, and jumped into the driver's seat. Jamming the keys into the ignition, the sorcerer slammed her foot into the gas pedal.

The bus batteries shuddered to life, and as the vehicle tried to cough to life, the electric current moved into the jumper cables, and all the way into the stakes in the ground.

And from the stakes in the ground, the power sparked to life the large patterned circle Terra had just run onto. Blue power surged from the now glowing alchemic array, tendrils snaking like bolts of electricity, and savagely surging all over the shrieking creature in the center of the transmutation.

Valentine closed her eyes at the sound, and nodded, "Hmm-hmm… the sounds of the repentant. But you're not ready to go in peace yet. Let's kick this up a gear!"

Moving a deft gloved hand to the clutch beside her, she moved the stick shift from "D", all the way to "4", and jammed down on the pedal with all her might. Outside the bus roared with energy, the transmutation roared with reactions, and the girl inside roared with pain.

"Hmmm… better stop before I kill her. Project seems to turned into my little baby or something… hate to see me lose again…"

In a moment, the circle faded to a dim glow, letting the stony creature outside stumble and hunch with exhaustion. There were no more yellow veins running up and down the creature, the yellow glow of its eyes a bleak tired glow. The stone flesh no longer moved easily, and it crumbled with every movement. Above all, it hoarsely panted, grasping for air.

Valentine emerged from the bus again, tome in hand, "Like a warhead candy, huh? Sour on the outside, but more fun once you get past the first layers! Acetius, Chelm, Metos, Ufrium."

As the pages flipped, a sledge began to materialize and draw itself out of the leather book, until it was hefted one handed over Valentine's shoulder, "Time to close this horrid chapter of the story of our lives. How about it, achey-breaky?"

"Hah…hah…K…Ki…"

"What's that?"

"KILL YOU!" It screamed finally, rushing towards Valentine, crumbling arms outstretched towards the sorcerer's neck.

It met the solid steel of the sledge instead.

Surprisingly, the stone face was nearly as solid too, bravely taking the blow, though it shattered as it reeled away, leaving a blonde pale head poking awkwardly out of a stone body as it fell onto its back. The human head gasped before its blue eyes rolled into the back of its head and lolled backwards, unmoving.

Valentine exhaled, and wiped the sweat off her face, and noticed the sky turning red as the sun began to fall back under the earth.

"…Yo! Boss'm! D's here to save the day!"

Valentine harrumphed at the approaching cowboy, "You're late. You missed my excellent showing up of our little golem here."

"Dude! I got beat down by five dudes, before beating down two of them, and I had to run all the way here!"

"Subordinates do not complain with what they are given." A muddy mass noted as it staggered towards them. All it had to identify by was the frozen tube of mud it was breathing through, releasing white mists, "Be sure to remind yourself of this if you are ever inducted into our ranks."

"I guess I should, boss."

"Freezie! You sure look like you took a roll in the mud!"

"I was suffocating in the mudslide, if it should make any difference to you, Valentine. It was very warm, and very painful because of it."

"Ye-ouch."

"So, um… Bosses'n'all? We gonna take the little chicky on the ground with us to the secret lair 'n stuff?"

"Yeah, yeah. D' and I'll take an arm. Freezie, you take the legs."

They grunted with the effort as they hauled the stone and flesh form to the bus.

"Hey, D'?"

"Yes'm Val?"

"The heck happened to your jacket?"

Devil Hand looked his lack of a left sleeve, the edges nothing but burned and charred leather, while the bare tattooed left arm shone unaffected and proud.

"Er…I got superpowers?"

"Tch. Just make sure it isn't anything random and stupid like achey-breaky here."

The conversation continued like that all the way home, for the four of them.

-

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-

**Episode 4: "Beyond The Grave" –** **And she suddenly woke up one day, and found herself who knows where, who knows how, who knows why, who knows when, and who knows who she is?**


	4. Beyond The Grave

_"There are no such things as true friends"_

_Somewhere in the back of… somewhere, they were the first words she heard, like the final truth of the universe when everything else had gone. The ultimate truth. The only thing left but that fact._

"_You're right… you don't have any friends."_

_And I trusted… him? Who was he? I never had any friends?_

_But I had stood laughing again. Fully and without fear, and they were all around me, laughing WITH me, not at me. No running in fear._

_Who were they? Were they even there?_

_No wait. Endless running. From them. I had laughed without fear more than once, and they were all around me more than once._

_I had friends so many times, and then they suddenly all turned on me._

_There are no such things as true friends?_

-

-

-

"Seriously. Melodrama. Such a pain."

She turned around in the void. In front of her was man in loose clothes, a bandanna swathed about the upper half of his face, and eyeholes cut through to let white blank eyes that were somehow full of life…

"Who-who are you?"

He shot his hands into the air, "GOD! Okay, maybe not really. But I'm pretty awesome enough. I'm from some other place. A world within and without, that kinda jazz, ya know? But maybe you don't. You always had a more country-ish theme song…hmm…"

"Look, where am I? What do you want from me?"

"Hey, I'm writing a chapter here, and I like them to only be so long, ya know? I don't like writing epics 'n all that, yeah? And all that melodrama and stuff is wasting my words, and it's not moving the plot anywhere. So… WAKE UP ALREADY!"

GOD flicked her nose painfully

-

-

-

She shot up out of bed with a gasp.

-

-

-

**Beyond The Grave**

-

-

-

Valentine bounced with excitement, "It's here! It's so totally here! D'! Freezie! It's here!"

The other two were lost somewhere in the maze of crates that took up the space in observatory room, which was quickly turning into the preferred "living room" of sorts for the gang. They all called to each far away other, waiting for a response from the distant voices.

Devil Hand looked up and about him, "Yeah, I can sorta see that, Val', seein' that those delivery dudes sorta been stackin' these boxes for the past half-hour, yeh? So, what is it?"

"I said not to call me Val' until you're entitled to it! Bah… you guys see the mechanical harness in the center of the room?"

"Yeah?"

"I am unable at this point of time, as a crate marked for the heavy duty pins is blocking my line of sight. I recall what object you speak of though, Valentine." Mr. Freeze clarified.

"Yeah, yeah! Anyways, I ordered us a brand-spanking new high-powered TELESCOPE! So we can watch for potential for plots of evil from high above! All the really good bad guys have one."

"Interesting. I now understand what costs have absorbed the remainders of our funds. Meaning we will have to plan another heist of sorts in the near future…"

"Dude! You sure that scope holder can hold this scope?"

"Hey! Daijobou, the Japanese would say! I can get it to fit if it won't! I'm Valentine!"

"Granted, I have no immediate fear of that. But from our height, would the reflection of the lens from the sunlight notify the local crime-prevention agency of suspicious activity in a facility that is supposedly completely abandoned?"

"I solved that problem too! I've ordered an extra lens thingy that you can put on the front of the Telescope. It's a cover with a rectangular gap in it, so sunlight won't reflect off it, but the gap is large enough to see through without any trouble. I learned all this after playing MGS3."

"MGS3… Val' you mean Monkey Gone Sordid Three?"

"Yeah… Semi-Automatic Leopard was such a pain…."

Freeze's voice cut in sharply, "Excellent. When the conversation with Valentine moves off topic, which is a notification that all is in order, and my presence is no longer required. You two may continue doing whatever you wish."

Mr. Freeze's footsteps faded away into the sounds of the elevator bell.

Devil Hand piqued up again, "Boss must be checking on the lil' chicky."

"Pah. Achey-breaky is gonna be fine. I'm the one who fixed her up and removed the rock and the metal stuff that was stuck in her nerves, right?"

"Yeah… but Boss was right in some ways. You do work on dead people… and you had a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife in the operation…"

"Hey! I have a certified medical degree, okay? Shut up! I at least know to clean off the blood on the blades!"

-

-

-

The room full of metal made her uncomfortable. There was nothing wrong with it really, plus the cots did look kind of nice.

But, it was all stainless steel. Cut out. Uniform. Unnatural. Lifeless.

_Where am I?_

That drew a blank. In fact, it seemed that everything before she woke up was just drawing on a blank. Nothing at all. Nothing to tell her she never existed before she woke up.

_I'm… I…I'm…I'm…I am…not supposed to be in here. I can't stay here._

Sheets tangled about her, and she tumbled out of bed with a yelp. Her pale legs and her pale arms and her pale neck sticking out of the white cotton gown felt stiff and unused. Muscles already aching with the barest of uses, bones groaning, lungs stretching painfully like new rubber bands…

She finally got herself stumbling into a lean against one of the walls of the room. Sliding across the room, she finally made it to the sliding door built into the wall.

It wasn't moving for her. Hissing, she slammed her palms against the metal, trying to make stainless steel budge.

_I can't stay in here! I want to see what's out there! What am I out there? There's life out there! Where I belong! I can't stay in here!_

Her breath was quickening, eyes dilating, the steel box around her becoming a world of death in a situation of survival. And suddenly the whole world turned gold like the sun…

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze exited the elevator into one of the corridors that snaked and wormed its way into a network about the innards of the mountainside. It was amazing that all of this was left alone for so long. None of it was newer than the time Freeze and Valentine first came here.

Freezing another cylinder in his mouth, the boy puffed onwards, pushing thoughts aside as he made his way to what Valentine had since assigned as a sort of informal infirmary. As the more sensible of the two founding members, he generally took it upon himself to check on the aftermath of any of his counterpart's mad plots, which in this case had been her haphazard operation on Terra to remove the exposed wires that were driven into her spinal cord and major nervous pathways.

She'd been unconscious, though stable for easily over 72 hours. But that still didn't ease any of Mr. Freeze's suspicions one bit. Valentine never had worked on live bodies before, even with all her training, and she played around too much. After injecting Terra's body with more adrenaline and morphine than imaginable, she took out a variety of large blades (including a new Hanzo Hattori, she claimed, "Hey, I gotta try it _some_ time, right?"), and "Went to Town" as she so aptly put it.

Still, the fact that Valentine was so confident of herself assured Freeze in some strange way, but again, he always blamed it on the unpredictable nature of that sorcerer. Of course, there were also all those spells she claimed prevented scarring, ("I make sure all my projects, even the ones I don't like, turn out looking their best for presentation to the consumers! And I don't think achey-breaky looks good in scars").

Before he knew it, Mr. Freeze found himself in darkness, while standing in front of the infirmary doors.

_The electricity supply must have gone out here. We need a more efficient method to maintain this._

He pulled out his cell phone and looked for the saved number for Valentine.

_"Hallo, Freezie? Valentine Foundation here at your service!"_

"Valentine, the electricity supply is inactive on floor three, corridor one. Activate standby, so I can enter the infirmary."

A few minutes later, the fluorescent lamps flickered to life once more.

_"Anything else, Freezie?"_

Mr. Freeze realized something was off, when he found the sliding door grating open wearily, sparks flying everywhere, and he suddenly found himself facing the clear inky night sky and open air.

"Yes. I think it would be advisable all members converge in on this location at once."

A few more minutes later, Devil Hand was gawking and Valentine was scratching at her knit cap head furiously.

"DUDE! The whole room's gone! The whole side of the mountain's gone!"

"Gagh! A few days ago she's throwing rocks everywhere, and now she's running around like this! Freezie, this is seriously too much trouble!"

"Perhaps she feels that she may find asylum at the headquarters of the local crime-prevention agency?"

Valentine snorted, "Unlikely."

"Uh, Val' I don't get why it's unlikely."

"Stop calling me that! I swear I'll… seriously, when a rock suddenly turns into a brain, is it going to have any memories in the past to work off of, other than just being rock?"

"You mean she don't have any memories with her?"

"Right now anyways, but since she got transmuted through magic, the residues of it will come back eventually. But not now."

"Now, she is most likely walking around confused in the center of Jump City at night. This Foundation has invested too much in her well being to expend her at this point. We will go and reacquisition her."

"Hey! Freezie! Who died and made you boss?"

"Mr. Phillis. I explained to you previously."

Valentine raised an eyebrow before reciting, just to be sure, "Locium, Vindai, Intar, Retos…. Oh, you're right."

Devil Hand scratched his head, as the three began to leave the door without a room, "Phillis? Who's Phillis?"

"That information is not privy to trial members. Valentine, you take your men and vehicles and-"

"I'm not going out there!"

They were at the observatory by then, and the two males turned around to their lone rebel. Mr. Freeze was unfazed as always.

"Clarify."

"I'm a lot more useful in here! I'll finish the telescope super fast, and I'll find her from up here!"

"I assume this will be from assistance of your magic arts? I believe it would be more effective to use your men and vehicles for a ground-"

"Boodoo People can't even talk or report to me if they find anything! Yeah, Freezie, let's have an army of violence inclined mindless ghouls rove around the city looking for an amnesiac! That'll sure put a good impression on her!"

"Dude, Val's got a point there, Boss."

"No worse an impression than a man dressed like a stereotypical image of a west American cow herder, a woman wearing a knit cap despite the three piece suit, and myself."

"Freezie! I'll find her from up here! Proooooomise! This is coming from a girl who doesn't even like her!"

"I will receive a productive call from you sometime tonight, or there will be consequences. Devil Hand, you are coming with me."

-

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-

After the good couple of minutes required to get the shaking off after crawling out of the wreckage that arrived on the outskirts of the city, it didn't take long to find out from a discarded newspaper that she was in Jump City, which was in California, the date being November 23, 2004.

And that was it. It didn't mean enough for her. But here she was. The only thing left to do was to walk and see where she would end up.

Empty streets in the dead of night didn't tell her anything either, neither did the cold winds or the full moon in the sky.

Eventually, feet needing rest, she found herself on a bench, in a park, waiting for something.

-

-

-

The falcon soared across the cityscape, supposedly looking for any signs of trouble, before floating towards a rooftop and landing on human feet, which brought the rest of Beast Boy to over look the city with a sort of furious quiet. Starfire, who also volunteered for tonight's patrol, arrived shortly.

"Beast Boy? Are you sure it is all right to pass through the city so quickly? Robin said for us to thorough."

"Robin will call if there's something up! I've got to find Terra, before those guys do something to her…"

Starfired tried to console her friend, "Beast Boy, I know how much Terra meant to you. She is also my friend. But we cannot search any faster for the foundation of the Mr. Freeze and the Valentine."

"I know! But… I just can't sit here. I'll do whatever I can in the mean time and… Terra? TERRA!"

Starfire found the shape shifter frantically looking down at a park, where a familiar blonde girl in white was sitting by her lonesome.

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze turned a corner and found nothing again. For a girl who would probably be the only person awake at this time of night, it sure was taking more effort than he realized.

_Valentine had better finish constructing that instrument soon…_

The Hawaii Five-O theme started playing from his cell phone. For some reason, Devil Hand had chosen that as his identifying tune. (And lately Valentine had been increasingly dissatisfied with her ring tones, and kept moving from one to another incessantly. Now it was Groovin' Magic again, the same song she would not stop singing.)

Mr. Freeze brought the phone to his ear, another cylinder to his mouth, "Yes?"

_"Duuude! We're late. There're like, two of those Titans talking to Ter' in the park!"_

"Which park?"

_"Some park!"_

"…They will most likely attempt to refuge her in their headquarters. If they leave, delay them. But I do not want any combat. In this situation, Terra has no reason to trust either the crime-prevention agency, or our Foundation. I do not want to give her another reason not to trust us by being the aggressor. No slander either."

_"What! Boss, I ain't exactly having a silver tongue here! And what if they attack me?"_

"Then they are the aggressors, and you have the right to… defend yourself. A full effort, Devil Hand, if I can expect nothing else. I will attempt to locate you."

-

-

-

"Terra!"

She turned her head to the voice and found herself in a spine-shattering bear hug while watching a bird land on a ground nearby and turn back into a green skinned particular. Well, between the whole lungs collapsing and the sudden love, and everything, she wasn't sure how to start. So they did.

"Oh how glorious it is to know you're safe!" The girl with orange skin went.

"It's great! How did you get away from them?" The boy that was a bird went next.

"Get… off me!"

That seemed to shock the two of them off her. The orange girl had a look that seemed slightly reminiscent of a heart-wounded puppy.

"Terra, you do not remember us? It is your friends, Starfire and Beast Boy?"

"Yeah! You know, I was hilarious?"

"…No?"

"C'mon! You got to remember something?"

"Look! I'm sorry, but I just woke up one day in this weird metal room that suddenly flew through the sky, and that's the only memory I have right now!"

Starfire thought for a second, before coming up with the usual conclusion, "Perhaps Robin knows the secret behind this strange condition?"

"Yeah! Maybe even Raven! And Cyborg would wanna know you're back too! C'mon!"

And she suddenly found herself grabbed by the wrist before she knew it, and after she did, she found herself jerking it out of Beast Boy's grip.

"Hey! Back off!"

"Terra…?" Beast Boy gave a confused look, like he was more confused than she was herself.

"And stop calling me that! How do you even know that's my name! And what makes you think I'll go to some place with some guys I don't even know!"

"Dude! She's right!"

A cowboy in a red leather jacket with one sleeve suddenly burst out of the bushes, obviously blind since he was wearing sunglasses at night. He pointed indignantly at the patrolling Titans, "Ah ha! Caught you two guys in the act of kidnap! You ain't getting our teammate! She's OUR teammate!"

Beast Boy and Starfire immediately turned a glare onto him.

"Devil Hand!"

"She may be your teammate, but she is our friend!"

Devil Hand seemed to jerk his head back like it was a foreign concept, before turning to the girl with a tip of his hat, "Heya Terra! Just came to pick you up! We were all worried when you ran off by accident. And don't be listening to these two! They just probably like you because you can throw rocks at people!"

That last phrase, said so plainly, caught her off-guard, "…What?"

Beast Boy suddenly cut in, "Terra! Don't listen to him! He's the bad guy! He's probably the one that's only interested in your powers!"

"Dude! It's only my word against yours! Who's to say which one of us is worse?"

Devil Hand's indignant tone, and this hitch-up just when things were so close to being alright again, infuriated Beast Boy to no end, and his patience snapped, "ME!"

"Beast Boy, wait-"

A Bear was lunging its way towards Devil Hand in one moment. A Left-Handed one-inch punch found it flying into a tree in the other direction, bringing the dazed bear back into a boy.

"Hey! You attacked me first, so it's only fair that I defended myself! Though if you want the truth, I was raring for payback for you sitting on me!" Devil Hand cackled, as he thumbed his nose and fell into a rigid stance.

Beast Boy gritted his teeth as he kicked the bark off his body, "Starfire! Get Terra to a safe place! I'll distract Devil Hand!"

"Right!"

"Hey-wait!" The girl protested as she found herself being picked up by her shoulders and back of her knees and flying through the air all of a sudden.

Devil Hand gaped again from the ground, "Man, this seriously gotta stop happening to me-"

The pugilist swiveled about to dodge a green leopard that landed on the ground crouched, growling.

Devil Hand laughed a breath into his hand, and fell into an easier pose, "Fine, Heaven or Hell, let's rock, huh? Time to get to work."

This time on command, the tattoos on his left arm burned ember orange, and the smell of brimstone began to fill the air again.

-

-

-

"I am sorry, my dear friend who has also lost all previous recollection of our time together, but I cannot let you down any moment soon!" Starfire tried to explain to the thrashing blonde, whose sole command was to let her down.

And for good reason too, according to the alien's logic. For an average Tameranian, maybe a fall from flying meters into the air into the pavement might not be so threatening. But for a normal human?

"I don't care! Just put me down! I could trust you as far as I could throw you!"

"Perhaps, but I believe you can trust even less the man who says he has hands like those of this planet's local 'devils'. He is… not nice."

Distracted by the explanations, neither noticed down below a boy in blue blandly watching them approach, before he turned a fire hydrant nearby. Snapping open the lighter in his hand and sparking the flames alight, he waved a burst of the azure fire onto the red hydrant, instantly turning it to ice. Unable to hold the immense pressure that it could as steel, the iced hydrant exploded into a geyser that shot into the sky, finally alerting Starfire. But it was too late; Mr. Freeze already tossed his lighter into the vertical torrent, turning the water into frozen serpent that continued to grow. With both his hands, the boy had the ice twining through the air and slamming head on into the flying pair. While Starfire was smashed near the top of a building, and slowly trapped in a growing mass of ice, the blonde was tumbling through the air before she crashed onto the roof the Tameranian was below. As she finally smacked her head to clear off the dizziness, she found her legs stiff together in a crude block of ice.

Starfire's voice caught her attention from the edge of the roof, "Friend! Are you unharmed?"

Well, she wasn't exactly her friend, but she wasn't exactly not going to answer either, "Starfire, what about you?"

The little princess' voice called back, "I am… fine, though I am currently trapped in a thick layer of frozen water up to my neck. You must run! The Mr. Freeze must be coming to capture you too!"

_The Mr. Freeze?_

She looked over the roof, over where she found Starfire's head, and a whole column of ice starting from her and winding all the way down to where a fire hydrant was. There, a boy in a blue hooded winter jacket had just thrown his palm towards the ice, stopping its motion. Smashing a fist into the crystalline surface, the boy rummaged around a bit, before pulling out a sleeve covered in snow and gripping a lighter in his hand, which he used to light some sort of cigarette in his mouth.

He looked up.

The blonde shot back by the sheer bright blue in the boy's eye, like he could just stare a hole through her forehead.

"Terra! You must escape!"

The words snapped her back to reality, and for good reason, "How? He got my legs! I can't even stand!"

The boy rose a foot against the vertical ice, and then the other, and soon enough he was walking up the frozen pathway up like it was no problem. As the Mr. Freeze approached Starfire from atop the vertical bridge, the princess unveiled her last defense. A pair of green beams of energy poured itself out of Starfire's eyes at the boy. He retaliated with a burst of blue flame, which cause the interception to exploded in a shower of steam. Stafire continued to unleash her light of her eyes into the mist, until the ice under her chin suddenly started growing all over her face, leaving her completely submerged under frost.

And the little girl lost, just stared in a slightly growing horror as this… _thing_ just paced its way out of the dissipating fog, stepped on the ice that was once Starfire's head and onto the roof, and just stared her forehead through with those practically blazing blue eyes-

"Excuse me. It was my intention to only incapacitate your companion, not assault you."

And she found him crouching over; palms on her frozen legs, and making the ice crumble off her skin that was cold white like her dress. She stumbled away and made sure to be a good couple of feet away from him.

"Who-who are you?"

"My current alias is Mr. Freeze. Male, age fifteen years, co-founder and currently member of the Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons."

"What do you want from me?"

"You forcibly exited yourself from our facilities, despite only being in recovery. Our organization was concerned about the probability of your well being, your being alone at night while not having completely regaining your strength."

"Well, I'm fine! Go away!"

"I cannot. The others and I have an expressed responsibility over you, Terra."

The uttering of that name finally got her, "So… that's really my name?"

"It is."

"Wait- I was just talking to myself! Your word is just as good as any other! How am I supposed to trust you? You and the whole crazy lighter trick! You want me to go your place, and she wants me to go to her place, and I just woke up and everybody suddenly wants a piece of me!"

Mr. Freeze looked down at the tool in his hand for a second, before deciding, "I will disallow myself the use of my primary arm in your proximity, if that is your prerequisite of trust. If you do not wish to follow me, you may lead wherever you desire instead, and I will place our directions at your discretion. We have as long as you want. My only current preoccupation is your safety."

"B-but… she said you were one of the bad guys!"

"I use my powers to assist myself rather than others, that is true. It is only a profession. Worse examples of "bad people" tend to purposely harm others for the pleasure of it. In any matter, the female there is in my knowledge, generally prone to emotional outbursts, heavily biasing her opinion. Shall we go, Terra?"

There was seriously no way out this time for her. There was nobody left for these guys to get into fights with each other, and saying No probably was a death sentence, and she had quite a desire to stay alive for a lot longer than a few hours. Plus, he promised not to attack now…

"Fine! But you better stay where I can see you! No funny stuff!"

"After you."

-

-

-

Beast Boy Sparrow fluttered out of the way of a giant blade of amber energy that ploughed through the ground and incinerated a tree behind him.

"Hey man! You better be lucky this hot stuff just burns stuff away without leaving time to start a fire! With this park around us, we might have started an real cookout!" Devil Hand lectured, while his left arm lost its glow from the attack, until the next time.

"Dude! You're the one whose chucking around those crazy blasts, not me!" Beast Boy thus retorted while crouching on a tree branch, before leaping into the air and diving down at the cowboy as a giant gorilla. Devil Hand artfully back flipped from the giant fists that slammed onto his previous position, before leaping back forwards, a fury of boots and fists smashing into the changed young hero. The left arm glowed suddenly, and the next spinning roundhouse was suddenly bursting into azure flames, the force of the blow ripping into the gorilla's arms and blowing him through the air and against his back on another tree. Devil Hand immediately was spinning in place with his leading left arm, before in lashed out, a horizontal blade of energy discharging towards Beast Boy. The gorilla was suddenly a tortoise in its shell on the ground, while the decapitating blade smashed through the tree above him, and through several more behind it before it exploded in a shower of ash and orange.

"Hiding your head already, lil' green? Why don't ya just cut your losses and just run away as a dog with his tail between his legs! Last time was just a fluke, this time, Devil Hand's all at max!" The suddenly enhanced pugilist taunted as Beast Boy was back on his knees as a man.

"Stop talking! I'm not going to lose to a cowboy wannabe like you!"

"Hey! I dress like this because I like it, not because-"

Devil Hand smashed his glowing left fist into the ground ripping the ground in front of him into a blackened and burned crater, while the lion was blown away again onto his back.

"Seriously. Turn into whatever you want, this God Hand here can take it all."

"Oh yeah? How about this!"

And thus Devil Hand found a rampaging T-Rex on the warpath towards him. He just broke a grin, as he held his left arm in front of him, a halo of amber surrounding the open palm. "No sweat! Just gotta give a lil' yank on the leash here-"

A blast of energy ripped through time and space, and the T-Rex was suddenly suspended in time and in front of Devil Hand, where a glowing right sucker punch reverberated through the green dinosaur, knocking the breath out of its enormous frame. Falling off its feet and onto its behind, the dazed animal left its belly open to a pair of cracking knuckles.

In an instant, the red form blurred its fists with amber streaks as it pummeled its way into Beast Boy Dinosaur's gut, jerking him back and forth, before a Left-hand brought an upwards fist into the T-Rex's body, sending it sliding through and out of the park.

Devil Hand followed in his wake.

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze couldn't blame it on human emotions this time, since Terra was lacking any previous memory, and thus any emotional output that might have been related to it.

Still, he wondered why the girl had led them into an off-season and closed carnival ground. Perhaps it was that residual memory Valentine had mentioned of? If so, that meant this carnival had some sort of distinguishing place in Terra's memory?

"Ugh! I'm tired from all this walking!" She harrumphed as she sat on a cold wood bench.

"It is noticeable."

A silence as the two stood and sat. Small talk felt inevitable.

"Um… Freeze? How did you know about me? I don't even know myself."

"You are a fairly infamous figure in the recent history of Jump City."

This seemed to spark hope in the girl's face, "Really? What does it say about me?"

Mr. Freeze recited again, "Name, Terra. Former affiliations, the local crime-prevention agency dubbed 'Teen Titans', and a criminal known as Slade, as of this moment, deceased. Known for displaying high-level geokinesis, was instrumental for Slade's attempt to control the city, more than capable of handling each individual member of the crime-fighting agency, last recorded. Was considered deceased, given her unusual bodily condition until November 20, 2004, when reawakened by members of the Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons."

"I was… dead? How?"

"I do not have the details, but on August 15, 2004, you incited an artificial volcanic eruption on the edge of the city, with obvious intention to flood the city with a magma flow. However, some point into your operation, you defected your loyalties from Slade to the Titans, which was resultant in his death. Afterwards you attempted to stop the magma flow on your own, the consequences, though the process unknown, resulted in your body being preserved in a physical state not unlike a total bodily conversion to rock matter. This form, lacking all inherent qualities of a living being, was thus considered deceased."

"Don't… don't tell me that… I couldn't have… I couldn't have actually wanted to kill people, right? I mean, I'm just a girl right? I couldn't really create a volcano, right? Right?" She tried to explain with a twisted smile didn't quite make all the facts slide off.

"I am afraid it isn't beyond my estimations. You seem to have a marked notoriety for possessing an advanced aptitude for geokinesis, the telekinetic relationship with all earthen matter. Hence, your known name and alias, Terra. Latin for 'earth'."

"But I don't remember any of it! There must be something good about me! I mean… you said I went to the Titans during that time, and Slade's a bad guy-"

"The inverse had occurred before that. My associate says you were affiliated with the Titans at first, but suddenly defected to Slade at a critical moment. She has a tendency to call your final defection a mere case of… 'achey-breaky heart', I believe."

"STOP TELLING ME THIS! I'M NOT BAD! I'M NOT BAD!" She was screaming to herself now, arms over the sides of her head. Mr. Freeze was indifferent to it all, though he knew she wouldn't be listening to any more mature, logical sense until she got herself out of this emotional tomfoolery. Thus, the boy gripped her wrist with his white hand harshly. She yelped in pain and yanked the offended limb away, and he grimaced.

"Ow! What did you do to me?" She practically yelled now, more concerned about the previous movement.

"I merely gave you something to distract you. My body temperature is… extremely low. If I held on for prolonged periods, normal human tissue would start to gain a consistency similar to frostbite. As for me…"

He held up his palm, which now had a deep throbbing red running across the center.

"Anything warm enough is unsuitable for my health."

"I… hurt you?"

"Warmth, which is only the fault of the human species, is what injured me. Now are you ready to discuss this without the incessant and irrelevant noise pertaining to likewise incessant and irrelevant grief?"

"Hey! I don't know about you, but I don't like suddenly being told that my entire life, all I did was betray and hurt people!" She hoarsely retorted through tearstained cheeks.

"It is the truth."

"And I'd rather forget all of it, then!"

Mr. Freeze didn't know whether or not it was wrong of him to think this way, but something Machiavellian awakened in his logic.

"If these prior recollections are so traumatizing, you may consider your amnesia a boon then. My Foundation and I would be more than willing to offer you a fresh start, with no need to remember you before the day we awakened you. You can start up however you wish, but our facilities are already open to you."

"B-but the Titans. They said I was their friend!"

"You may choose who you wish to go to, but if you wish to forget your old life so badly, why desire to return to people who wish to see the previous Terra? Why desire to return to people who would desire to only to remind you of your… less than appreciable choices in life?"

"I…I…"

Groovin' Magic suddenly came on. Mr. Freeze told her to hold that thought as he rummaged for his phone. He should have burned his left hand instead.

"Yes, Valentine?"

_"Halllo! I have my eye the sky all ready to go!"_

"No need for that now. I have located Terra."

_"You should say that after you hear what I've seen!"_

"Specify."

_"I already saw you guys. You two are at that closed carnival right? Well guess who's coming to crash the party?"_

"The local crime-prevention agency?"

_"Somebody called in the whole freakin' cavalry. I see the whole car coming. I also see D' and the green guy on a warpath towards you, though I think that's just a coincidence. And the first to arrive is going to be that orange-skinned flying girl."_

"Irritating. Valentine, I would appreciate if you reinforced us."

_"You're very appreciated! I'll be there! Save a few tokens for the rides for me!"_

Freeze shut his phone and turned back to her, "This location is about to become a battleground. It would be prudent for you to find a reinforced location to hide and take refuge in."

"You're just going to leave me to fend for myself?" She choked.

"You are much more capable than you realize. They will be preoccupied with me as well. Go hide now."

-

-

-

Starfire floated to an inch above the ground in the center of the carnival, where assorted inactive booths lay everywhere. Scanning around, she found no immediate sign of the pair, though she caught onto their trail not long after she freed herself from Mr. Freeze's frozen hold.

"I believe you were at one point referred to as the Starfire, correct?" Mr. Freeze's dull tone called as he rounded a stall into her view. She immediately busted out the glowing act with her hands and eyes.

"You! Where have you imprisoned my friend?"

Mr. Freeze shrugged, "I am unsure. I simply prompted Terra to find a place to hide for the ensuing battle."

"And why would she listen to a foul Clorbag Varblernelk such as yourself?" Starfire righteously accused.

With that Mr. Freeze pulled out his primary arms and flicked into a fire, "Because unlike you, I do not necessarily have to shout to validate my points."

Stafire launched herself upward to dodge the jet of frozen flame that consumed the entire alley of stalls beneath her. Empowered by more righteous fury than ever, the Tameranian princess hurled down an entire battery of starbolts down towards the boy in blue. Freeze merely lifted his lighted stream into the barrage, creating more explosive steam that covered each other from view. Starfire, trusting herself, continued to fire away into the smoke.

"You seem to be possessing a general ineptitude for basic strategy." Mr. Freeze observed from behind Starfire, raised into the air on a thick pedestal of ice. As she whirled around, she caught a face full of flamethrower, leaving her screaming towards the ground with burning frost attached to her face and body.

"One of which, I believe, is to always remain on the move." Freeze inputted finally as he manipulated the ice back towards the ground, casually observing the alien that pulled herself from the crater made in the boardwalks. Next thing, the orange berserker was flying in again with more bolts and blasts, Mr. Freeze skating about and away.

"You will return our friend!"

Freeze didn't answer as he escaped full pelt away from the entourage of green bolts, but quickly changed momentum as he suddenly was sculpting a path almost completely vertical into the sky by several meters, his skating starting to slow against gravity while the pursuing Titan kept chasing upwards with blasts. Eventually, Freeze swirled around and brought his fists down. The command onto the ice caused the entire tower in the sky to begin to collapse, large shards falling towards the shocked crime-fighter. Each blast only created smoke, while more shards fell, until she couldn't simply keep up, and was buried under the rubble down at the bottom. Freeze fell soon after, cushioned instead by a thick layer of flame-conjured snow.

Mr. Freeze rose from the snow, almost tut-tutting to the collapsed heap of ice, "You keep speaking of your friend. You should have been more concerned about attaining victory. Of course, as I suspected with all other beings, your emotions keep you from recognizing the reality of the situation."

-

-

-

A green bull ploughed through the metal gates, and through a booth, and then through metal railings, and then after than souvenir shop. All the while, Devil Hand was doing his best not to get gored by either of the points he was between, while he took the brunt of the missile ride through every breakable Beast Boy could find. Eventually, the bull screeched to a halt, letting the villain riding in front fly off and bounce across the boardwalk until he rolled to a stop, shaking his head dizzily.

"Seriously, D'. Gonna know this as the life when you did nothin' but meet with freaks…"

The bull charged again, hoping for a fresh impact. Devil Hand was more than prepared this time. Anticipating the raging beast, Devil Hand actually grabbed the Beast Boy by his lengthy horns, before driving a knee into his green snout, over and over and over and a furious rate. After the series of blows, the Texan reached forward and grabbed the beast by his neck, before lifting the whole animal put in a pile driver, headfirst.

"Dude. Seriously. We're gonna keep fighting and fighting and fighting until the light comes up and back down again. Can't you give it a break already?" Devil Hand groaned, as he backed away from the reverting shape-shifter, who gave a dark look back as he got to his knees.

"Not until you give Terra back!"

"We ain't even done anything to her!"

"Yeah, well I've had enough of people like you taking advantage of her! She's already gone through enough!"

"Tch. Are you even listening, ya twerp elf? We didn't do anything to her, I don't think I'd actually want to do anything to her, and 'sides, the rate things are going, it dun't matter at all. She doesn't even remember any time she got used."

"That's not an excuse!" Beast Boy raged, as he charged towards Devil Hand as an elephant. Seeing predictability, the man swirled around in another headslicing blade, hoping to cleave the giant beast in twain. In sudden response, the elephant was now low to the ground as leopard, the blade of amber flying overhead when Beast Boy shrieked and pounced. Catching a chest full of each other, the two struggled and rolled across the ground, avoiding each other's burning fist or bladed paw.

Kicking the leopard off him, Devil Hand quickly resumed an offensive, and grabbed the animal this time, charging onwards and crashing through breakables of his own, until they disappeared into the foundation and metal framework of the unmoving roller coaster.

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze skated backwards and upwards, the frozen ramp leading him into the geometric jungle that was the metal framework of the unmoving roller coaster. Pursuing him was the ever righteously furious Starfire, who was nonetheless, furious. With metal struts about him, Mr. Freeze was more than able to maneuver in midair, attaching his path to the steel bars about him, while the two traded fire and ice with each other. As Starfire exploded the path in front of Freeze, he was launched through the air before landing heavily atop another bar, and looked up indifferently at his adversary.

"I am curious. Was Terra that integral to the success of your organization's functions? You are expressing an absurd determination to reacquisition your former member. Most other organizations usually just refresh their roster with new members, seeing it is a far more economical process."

"You do not seem to realize, even though I keep saying that Terra remains our friend! We will not abandon her to someone like you!" Starfire growled.

"How naïve-"

Mr. Freeze rose into the air on a rising pillar of ice, while starbolts riddled the building structure as he dodged upwards. As one exploded near his feet, he flew into the air, falling heavily with both booted feet onto Starfire's chest, sending them both downward. Freeze showed no fear as he continued to lecture.

"-friendship and all other objects that seemingly transcend value are an illusion, created by emotional response-"

Freeze kicked off at last minute, leaving Starfire to smash into the ground, while his lighter froze a steep but controlled descent to the edge of the crater, where Stafire was crawling out wearily. As the wind whipped the hood back, ice-blue hair, frozen back like icicles were revealed, stiff and unmoving on the back of his head.

"And as all emotional response is subject to radical change, the value of friendship and all other objects are in a constant illusory state. You beings and your emotions… fickle and trite. The only true value and strength can be discerned with cold, impersonal, and unfeeling logic, without unpredictable variables such as emotion."

"Then I will prove… you are wrong!" Stafire raced low to the ground towards the still Freeze, who merely made a motion to pull his hood back up.

The old frozen path high above crashed atop the princess, as she was about to lay a burning punch.

"You cannot even see past your own haze of self-righteousness and pain. How can you hope to prove anything?"

_Truly, if this organization if filled with such misfits, it would be much better for Terra to remain with our Foundation._

A Billy goat sailed over Freeze's head and crashed alongside the ruined frost, while Devil Hand leapt out from the shadows, hoping to pursue his quarry. The sight of Mr. Freeze, though had him stopping at his side in curiosity.

"Yeah, boss? How we doing?"

"Not very well. We are running short on time, and our opponents refuse to yield."

"And we're never going to give up." Robin's voice cut in.

Around and above them, the remaining trio of the Titans aimed down at them.

Cyborg adjusted his cannon, "Seriously, mess with Terra-"

Raven hovered; hands alight with dark energy, "-mess with our friends-"

Robin's fingers curled around blades, "-you just messed with the wrong team one too many times."

"Defeat appears imminent. Strategic withdrawal is the only alternative at this point" Freeze blandly stated, watching Starfire and Beast Boy recover, while the others closed in.

Devil Hand was far to stoked to let that hold him down, as he pointed back up cockily, "Dude! Five on two ain't scary! I took on a whole Mongol horde once-"

"Devil Hand."

"Yeah?"

"First, you were not alive at the time of the Mongol invasion, and second, the Mongolians did not posses shape shifting, telekinesis, flight, or self-projected particle attacks. Withdraw already."

"Dude! You don't know anything then!"

"Titans, GO!"

-

-

-

She seemed to posses a better sense of direction than she first expected, because at the dull noise of thudding explosions, she easily found her way back to the entrance of the funhouse, and peeked out of the corner of the rectangular open entrance.

It was a rather horrific sight to see everybody she knew in her short time, along with a few other notables, making mincemeat out of the carnival grounds.

Five people chasing down two men who were escaping, not even bothering to _fight back_…

It didn't seem awfully fair, good guys or bad guys and not.

The pair was back to back now, turning around to assess the situation surrounding them.

She couldn't leave them like that. It just wasn't _fair._ She had to do something-

"Hallo, gu-uys! Guess whose here!" A cheerful voice cackled in the breaking dawn. A girl in a suit appeared on the roof. The floating one with the cloak didn't seem too pleased at the sight of her.

"_You..._"

"Me! And you remembered! Hey guys! I heard there was a dull party going down here, so I called up some friends to live it up!"

A snap of the fingers. The blonde girl's eyes widened as she watched then a whole veritable army rise to the roofs surrounding the heroes that had surrounded the villains.

A real Mexican standoff.

"You're not getting away with Terra!" Beast Boy yelled.

"She deserves a better party than a self-absorbed, self-deluded, and self-righteous crime-prevention agency such as yourself." Mr. Freeze breathed back easily.

"Oh, you don't talk to us like that! You wanna say that again to my hand here?" The man in blue and silver metal retorted, his arm split into some glowing cannon-end.

"You do that, I'll put my fist through your mouth! Tin-can, you ain't even Alexander!" Devil Hand thumbed downward with his left arm.

"Try it, I dare you." The cloaked girl again shot back, quietly and viciously.

The girl in the suit grinned and raised her fingers, pressed together and raring to snap a thunder, "I double dare you! Even blink and I'll have you doing the lead dance!"

She was shivering at the sight of this. The tension was just waiting for any excuse to snap and blow each other away senseless.

_Jeez! They're going to rip each other apart! And over me! I just can't… I won't… _

_-_

-

-

"STOP!"

Everyone turned to the blonde girl in a white gown who appeared, panting heavily, neck and shoulders hunched, baby blue eyes glaring at everyone.

"Stop it. This fight is disgusting." She hissed.

There was an awkward silence, as the Titans as a whole seemed to finally see Terra again. Beast Boy tried to utter her name-

"No! I'm not! I'm not that Terra anymore. I've been told nothing ever good came out of that Terra, and apparently, she still isn't if this blood bath is going to happen."

She tromped over and stood defiantly between Devil Hand and Mr. Freeze, "I'm having a fresh start. Away from any stupidity the old Terra had."

"Terra!"

"No!"

"You can't trust them!"

"I can't trust you guys either." She pointedly shot back.

Beast Boy stuttered, "But… but we're your friends."

"You keep shoving that line down my throat! I'm not the Terra you know, Beast Boy. She may have been your friend, but I don't even remember you beyond tonight! Besides, I trust Freeze more."

"Why!"

"He's right. All you guys are full of yourselves. At least he didn't try to lead me on with the little, 'do I know you?' line. He gave the truth to me straight, and let me choose for myself"

"Terra, don't do this!" Robin intervened, "If you join with them, we won't be able to help but consider you the enemy."

"It doesn't matter! I'm Terra. I'm not a Teen Titan. You can't tell me what to do, and they can't either. I'll choose for myself."

The changeling tried to approach one more time, "Terra…"

"Back. Off. Beast Boy."

Her growled words elicited eyes that glowed gold like the sun, causing a small rift to rip between the geokinetic and the shapeshifter. The action seemed to startle both of them.

"Valentine. It would be prudent to facilitate our evacuation now."

"Got it, got it! Metrium Xaals Tryvase Peos!"

The transdimensional bus ripped through reality and came to a halt behind the Foundation members.

Devil Hand leapt up into the open door, "Dude! I am so freaking out of here!"

Mr. Freeze stepped in after, "That desire is seconded."

Valentine sneered as she stepped back into the vehicle, "Heya, heroes! So we didn't get away with achey-breaky, she decided to come with us! So you go what you want, and we got what we want! Isn't the universe so fun?"

Terra paused only for a second, before turning her back, "Good bye."

The bus flashed and streamed, and disappeared as it drove into nothingness, leaving the Titans alone in the rising day.

For each of them, they could remember distinctly the hollow brightness of that day, of the heat that radiated as the gold sun shined above.

-

-

-

**Episode 5: "Queen of the Castle" – Valentine was never one for healthy obsessions. Between controlling her armies, practicing magic, and pacts with the God of Time, she's now seemed to have found a new source of unhealthy curiosity and entertainment. And it all derives from the Titan's own resident spell-caster.**


	5. Queen of the Castle

In the deepest, darkest, and foulest of places, there was decorated chamber. Velvet draperies, polished wood furniture, books of the ages, all of it was in this dark room, the chamber personally controlled by one man.

One "man".

There he stood in the center of it all, lank black hair tied back, and glasses, while decorated robes covered his body, his sharp face serene.

Serenity was promptly ruined utterly when Valentine barged into the chamber, a stack of scrolls bundled under her arm.

"HALLO, EVERYBODY! God of Time delivery is here!"

The man turned his neck sharply to watch in shock at the mortal barging into _his_ domain, "Weak creature! How dare you not prostrate yourself before me!"

The girl in the suit waved it off, "Oh, pshaw. I'm not that weak! Besides you were expecting me. God of Time and all?"

That caught the man's interest, "Then… you are Valentine? The rumored only human servant of the Lion-Headed?"

"Yep! And if you give me any attitude… just think what your boss would say if he accidentally got on the bad side of the Underworld's ONLY divine supplier of all things supernatural, for the supernatural! And it all being your fault…"

"To think a god powerful enough to disregard the matters of the realms of dark and light, would take interest in a weak creature like you…"

"Moving on! You're Griffy right?"

The man indignantly huffed, "You shall address me as Griffon, oldest and most trusted lieutenant of Mundus, ruler of the Underworld and future conqueror of the realm of light."

"Fine, Griffon-oldest-and-most-trusted-lieutenant-of-Mundus-ruler-of-the-Underworld-and-future-conqueror-of-the-realm-of-light. You paid up?"

"Yes, I have given the suitable tribute of demon souls, now give me the summoning rituals."

Only two of the three were given over. Griffon narrowed his eyes.

"Now, if I wasn't mistaken, I believed that the God of Time always gave what was promised…"

Valentine shrugged, "Yeah, he does. But you're the one who didn't live up to it. You're tribute's off by a few million. So I can't give you the last one."

Griffon made a threatening step towards the girl, "How dare you question-"

"Uh, uh uh… not another step closer, feather-face. I may only be a mere human sorcerer, but I am HIS servant."

Griffon still craned forward, hissing, "You do not understand the severity of our situation! It is vital that we have every summoning ritual on time-"

"Yeah, I know! I've been told, you've been buying up all the high-level summoning knowledge from God of Time for the past twenty years for your boss, for goodness-knows-what! Heck, you've been at this before I've even been born, but the deal's the deal! You don't pay up, I can't sell."

"Don't give me that!"

"Okay! Hmm… how about another sort of trade? Little gossip? A little in on what's all the summoning about? Maybe I might be able to trade info for info, huh?" Valentine teased, shaking the final scroll of knowledge in front of Griffon, who tensed up, gritting his teeth.

"Very well… Mundus is planning a resurrection on Mallet Island."

"Ah, I see. He's still sore over the whole Sealing and Traitor business is he?"

"All true demons curse His name. Traitor."

"Hmmm… didn't you kill him and his family though?"

"Save for one, who still lives, unfortunately."

"Still, what's the whole rush on the resurrection?"

"There is… competition."

"Oh? From who?"

"Trigon. It appears for once he's planned ahead with an ingenious plot." Griffon snorted.

Valentine thought wistfully, fingering her chin, "Ah, yes. If he conquers Earth and all its tasty souls instead of Mundus, he'll get the limelight, instead, right? Maybe even be considered King of Hell?"

That got Griffon bristling. Valentine fought down her smile, "Still, between the two of them, they may be equal in strength, but Trigon was always the stupider one. How's he going to break through the Seal?"

"Our spies have concluded…" Griffon led off, seemingly disgusted by the thought he was bringing up.

"Well? Out with out! Gossip! Gossip I say!"

"Trigon has lowered himself to employing a shameful loophole…fool…copulating with a weak human…"

"WHOA! Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean to tell me that Trigon actually got himself a kid? A Halfling? Geez!"

"He plans to use her as an anchor to the realm of light and pull himself through with this link, once she is of the appropriate age to activate the summoning… that is why we wish to free lord Mundus before Trigon can complete his plan! Now give me that!"

Valentine, dazed by the thought of a Blood Boiler, let the scroll get snatched out of her hand, "Wait, a kid who could possibly be powerful as him? Is he an idiot?"

"Unfortunately, not this time. He's been taking great pains to use his link to limit her power… now if you excuse me-"

"Yo, Griffon! Where's this Armageddon kid living anyways?"

Griffon was getting irritated by the nosiness of the human, who shushed her away quickly with a, "The same place you do! Now leave, human!"

Valentine's eyes widened impossibly, "No way… HER? I always thought… but… I can't believe it… GRIFFON! More Gossip about her! Now!"

"I told you to leave-"

"Oh… Griffy… but I'm still willing to trade info for info… perhaps this nice extra summoning… without paying God of Time?"

"…Perhaps… you may wish to take a seat then, Valentine…"

-

-

-

**Queen of the Castle**

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze sat back and looked through the minute scope, which expanded all the way until its massive size outside the observatory, where the partially covered lens spied down upon all.

Pawn Shop. Jewelry Exhibition. Warehouse. Bank of Perez- 

"No! Freakin'! DIE!" Devil Hand shouted from somewhere, Terra's own cries of frustration mixed in. Mr. Freeze rolled back, and sat for a moment, taking in the noise.

A few more proud modifications joined the Friece and Valentine Foundation, since Terra's official recruitment. First, Valentine, in line with her strange obsession of blurring the reality between her Japanese Animations and real life, had decided to name their hidden fortress the completely nonsensical, "Olympus Height", referencing both their superiority over the Titans, and the Japanese Animated desire to use strange English terms for fantastic items.

Second, Devil Hand managed to sneak in a GameStation Live. Hence, the noise of frustration, as the two were being repeatedly defeated by people across the world.

"Devil Hand. Terra. Stop distracting me. I am conducting research."

"Dude! I can't help it! Freaking… I swear! They must be using a bot or something!"

"… Clarify, just for the sake of enlightening me."

"Day of Sagittarius! Five on Five Online game Sci-Fi with space fleets and… GRGGH! CHEATER!"

Freeze turned to the not yet overly livid of the game-playing pair, "Terra?"

"I don't know! We're playing this clan from Japan called 'SOS-Dan'. But their YUKIN player must be a like a hacked AI-bot or something!"

"Why?"

"There's no way a player can multitask so many mini-fleets at once! It's not possible! CHEATER!"

"Curious. I wonder what Valentine would have said about this."

Devil Hand hummed at that thought, "Yeah. Val' hasn't been leaving her room for a couple of days. You think she's caught a cold or something?"

"I suppose there is only one way to discern truth from this matter." Mr. Freeze responded, as he slid out of the chair and headed towards the Factory.

-

-

-

Valentine sighed dreamily in front of the computer monitors and LCD screens, which all glowed with the same continuous looping clips. Booted feet came a stop behind her.

"This is most disturbing, Valentine. Have you been performing this same action since three days ago?"

"She's so… cool…"

"Why are you watching continuous reruns of your battle with the other magic practitioner at STAR labs, and commenting positively on her? I find your positive connection with her unsettling."

Valentine spun about and pointed back at the screens, "Freezie! Raven is cool! Do you realize how cool she is? She's really powerful! She's like… ugh! You couldn't possibly understand what she means to me! She's like… a shining star! A beacon for all to envy!"

"Your metaphors only serve as a stellar insight into your disturbed mental state. Stop this nonsense."

Valentine folded her arms and frowned, "You're such a spoilsport. Still… I want to talk to her… I need to talk to her… she's too cool… and she's also such a waste… need to talk."

Mr. Freeze brought a cylinder to his lips and lit, "I do not know the exact desire for this communication. But if you did, no doubt the other members of the crime-prevention agency would also arrive to assist her."

"I know! If only I could have a whole city to myself… wait… I do have a whole city to myself! Freezie! You won't mind if I had a date with little Rae-Raven by myself, right?"

"Define the exact nature of this outing."

"Oh you know… send an invitation, go for a bus ride… have a talk about family and career…"

Mr. Freeze shifted slightly, eyes never changing, "Truly. If you were nobody else other than Valentine, I would have not trusted you being in such close contact with the enemy. But you seem to have a plan. Very well, you may go out on this little project. But do not make too much of a commotion. This operation is not officially sanctioned by our Foundation."

The sorcerer leapt up in delighted and wrapped herself carefully around the winter jacketed Freeze, "YES! Raven and I are going on a date! I'd knew you'd understand what we have between us in the end, Freezie!"

"Stop speaking like that."

-

-

-

And for once in an eternity, Raven had finally managed to stuff herself into a comfortable enough corner of Ops, and dive into the book with her usual passive vigor. The relative calm had even managed to make it past lunchtime time. With any luck, (though honestly, she shouldn't expect it), things might actually stay peaceful enough till next day.

Though she was never the most vocal of people, she could see it, the team needed a break from their constant attention over _them_. The Friece and Valentine Foundation, as they called themselves. They were only interested in small things like banks and jewelry so far, but it was obvious it wasn't going to stop there.

_Not with the sort of people they've already got._ _People with strength like theirs in one neat little package are a cataclysm in the making. _Raven darkly observed.

Mr. Freeze. Devil Hand. Terra.

_Her._

Raven's hand curled tighter around the hardcover of the book for a moment, before a quickly repeated mantra in her head told her to forget that roiling energy inside her, that now was not the time.

Valentine. She was probably the most dangerous of the four, in Raven's opinion. But the others wouldn't understand. Just the fact Cyborg mockingly called her 'Ghoul Girl' told her enough. The others thought merely of Valentine as the crazy magician who played around with zombies. Just another magic-based villain, like Mumbo.

Not to Raven. Not when she understood the implications in the world of magic. Valentine's type were unpredictable and sadistically hedonistic. Ghouls were only the beginning. She would continue to dive deeper and deeper into more and more taboo spells and dark magic, if only to abate her curiosity. She was the type that would be willing to sacrifice anything to get more power or knowledge.

That's what made her so dangerous. And only Raven would understand that.

_Hmm…I need more Kafka._

"Yo! Raven! Getcha nose outta the book! We got ourselves mail!" Cyborg enthusiastically cried out, on his shoulder a large box filled to the brim with various envelopes of various colors.

"Mail? Aren't you supposed to get that in the morning?" Raven noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but today seems to be an exception because BEAST BOY WAS SUPPPOSED TO GET IT TODAY!" Cyborg shouted to the other side of the room to the absorbed Gamestation Live playing changeling.

"Dude! I was going to get it! But I have to beat these SOS guys first! There's no way a human player could multi-task like that!"

"Yeah, whatever! Just wait till after I get on, and I'll show you a real master of games! Checking the mail, Rae?"

"Please. It's a waste of my time to rummage through poorly worded fan mail and pleas for marriage, then dig out the infected portions of my brain with a spoon after reading the best one."

"Suit yourself." Cyborg shrugged, and dove into the pile himself.

And so Raven once more settled herself back into the book, prepared to finish it off once and for all. That was before a familiar sly echo invaded her thoughts.

_Tooooo…rrraaaaaven…_

She jerked her head towards the box that Cyborg was digging through.

_Tooooo…RAVEN.__BLOOD BOILER._

She walked up to the box, Cyborg looking amused somewhere in the back of her head as she drove one arm deep into the pile of envelopes, following the voice.

_Toooo… Raaavaaaaa-_

She pulled out a blood red envelope, even deeper crimson wax letters smeared across the front, while red ribbons and a wax seal tied up the package.

**tO: RavEen**

Cyborg guffawed, "Hey, BB! Check out this letter Rae got! It's capitalized in all the wrong places and the guy spelled Raven with two 'e's!"

Her hand tightened about the paper imperceptibly, while she continued to swallow down the familiar taste of disgust with more mantras, "Cyborg."

"Yeah?"

"Get the team here. _Now._"

In a few moments, they were gathered about the red envelope that sat by itself on the table.

"This letter has magic weaved into it." Raven finally said.

"You mean, like that Jinx we dealt with a few times?" Cyborg asked. Raven shook her head.

"No. This stuff is advanced. There's only one person who could write this."

Starfire seemed to catch on, "The Valentine?"

Beast Boy shivered at the thought, "Ew. Creepy magic pen pals…"

Beast Boy thus after was instantly murdered by Raven's death glare, while Robin analyzed the work, "Could be a trap."

Raven shook her head again, "I don't think so. It may have been from her, but it doesn't feel malicious."

"Only one way to find out, Raven." Cyborg critically noted, "It's your letter. If it's made of magic, I'd have half a mind to say it'd only open to you."

Raven paused for a second, before slowly reaching over a tugging at one end of the ribbon.

The ribbons and wax flew off the paper, shocking everyone for a second, before the paper started to fold on itself, reshaping repeatedly, finally forming a crude caricature of a mouth, from which Valentine's voice came through.

_"Hallo, my little Rae-Rae-chan, as the Japanese would put it!"_

Raven's face darkened at the mouth, "You again."

_"Oh, and this is a recorded, message, so I'm don't exactly have any comebacks if any of you go 'you again!' or something. No shooting the messenger until this is over, please! A-hem… Oh, Raven! So full of grace and beauty! Your cloak is like the beauty of night itself! Your forehead shines radiantly with strength! Your legs erect as towers of ivory-"_

Several of them balked at the cliché descriptions, and gave a strange look back at Raven, who only frowned back a facial "Shut up."

_"-And you're kinda cute when you get angry! Ah, Raven, what fun times we had together the last time at STAR Labs! I really think we hit something off that night! But I'm heart-broken! You haven't called me since that day! And I'm sooo lonely. Which is why I decided to write to you! Let's go out and have fun again, just the two of us! We have so much to talk about! I'll even give you directions!"_

Just that moment, the dull roar of an explosion caught everyone's attention, and they all looked out the windows to see a giant plume of smoke rising from the center of Jump City.

_"Little Rae-Rae-chan! Please come and sooth my sorrows! We're the only two who REALLY understand each other. Don't disappoint. I'd hate to find ways to entertain myself. I'm sure the other people in you little city would hate it, too! I'll be waiting. Love, Ms. Valentine, of the Valentine Foundation."_

With that, the letter twisted about itself, ripping its own body to little shreds in a few short moments.

"Titans, trouble!"

And they were gone.

-

-

-

"Hey! Don't touch me!" The driver contested as the BooDoo People dragged him out of his car, before they started wheeling the vehicle past the other undead who had cordoned off the streets around the intersection. In the center of the streets, a large bonfire was flaming up into the sky, continually being fed by commandeered vehicles, including the one that was just stolen and rolled into the flames.

Nearby, Valentine lay backwards over her floating leather tome, which was large enough for the front cover to support her entire back, leaving her limbs to dangle off around the edges. In her ears were the headphones, which she used to recite aloud as she bobbed her upside down head.

"…Ooh-Ooh, Ooh-Ooh, yeah, Ooh-Ooh, Ooh-Ooh, yeah, help me be with you…"

The sounds of screeching tires, a new noise in a while, caught her attention. She lifted her head right side up to look over her body at the sight of the T-Car smashing through the BooDoo cordon, and coming to a halt in front of her, while Valentine sat up properly on her floating book, pulling down the headphones onto her neck.

"Rae-Rae-chan! My dear little blood boiling lone wolf! You came after all! You do care!" The sorcerer in a suit cackled.

"What do you want, Valentine?" Raven muttered.

"Why, to have our time together, didn't you read my letter? Of course, your chauffeurs of yours are going to ruin the fun…"

"Of course! We would not leave Raven to a dangerous girl like you! We will be most excellent in chauffering!" Starfire proudly shot back.

Valentine sighed with a tongue sticking out, "That's the problem. Rae-Rae, how about the two of us distract your friends while we get away from these squares?"

Gloved hands snapped their fingers. Windows in the buildings around them shattered as BooDoo People leaned out and fired their guns.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted, and the five of them scattered away as the pavement about them sparked with bullets.

Raven covered Robin with blackened shield momentarily, while the boy wonder retaliated with birdarangs and explosives into the windows. All the while, the Titan magician noticed Valentine waving a farewell as she floated away slowly on her impromptu seat.

But all those BooDoo People in the way… Raven had no choice-

"Robin, I'm going after Valentine. Get ready."

"Raven, wait-"

Robin had no more time to get ready. She had already disappeared in a flurry of Soul Self, leaving the Boy Wonder to rely on his agility to defend against the rounds.

-

-

-

Valentine's backwards ride suddenly came to a halt as her back smacked into a car that smashed behind her, covered in darkness. Raven floated above her.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Why would I dearie, when I've got you? Just the two of us now!" Valentine sneered as she dodged away from more falling cars, "Letius, Myatar, Zecius, Fall'r!"

A bolt of lightning erupted from Valentine's fingertips, catching from one car to another, until all of them combined into a giant fireball, throwing metal pieces everywhere, which forced Raven to call up another shield.

A sudden blast of wind separated the smoke of the wreckage, while simultaneously blowing Raven backwards. As Valentine breathed the last of her wind spell, she immediately brought the palm of one of her hands over the opposite eye, chanting as she reached out with her other hand.

"Carrius, Metrion, Velcine, Talls."

In her single-eyed vision, Valentine used her free hand to cover the form of Raven in the air. After that, she quickly swung her closed hand towards the ground, causing an explosion of dust to kick up where her hand covered the asphalt in her vision. Releasing her covered eye, Valentine saw Raven smashed into the ground, and she pounced forward for attack.

One Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos later, Valentine was sliding back down the street herself. She huffed as the two rose to their feet, "Seriously, Rae-Rae. All you use is that focusing spell. I know you can do more than that."

"That's all you're going to get."

"I don't think so…" Valentine grinned, fingers snapping. Raven twisted her head to suddenly find a bus roaring, with its headlights on in daylight, speeding towards the two of them. The cloaked girl easily brought her hand up, commanding with black energy for the vehicle to halt.

It broke free of the black enshrouding it, and drove onwards.

"Sorry, Rae-Rae, gotta do better than that! I've warded it specifically for you this time."

"Azarath Metrion-"

Valentine's gloved hand twisted itself around Raven's neck suddenly shutting off her voice and leaving her choking, as the two of them stood in the headlights of the approaching bus.

"Metium, Y'lar, Heldis, Stelic. No Zinthos yet, Rae-Rae-chan. We gotta finish our talk first. After the ride, we'll have a whole city to ourselves to talk."

Raven continued to struggle with the iron-grip of a cheerful Valentine, as she held the two of them there in the path of the bus.

The world turned white in the lights of the bus, as they both smashed into chromed front.

-

-

-

Raven rubbed her head, trying to squeeze the headache away as she got up from the cracked asphalt.

_More of Valentine's magic. No way she would have just let that bus hit us…_

Opening her eyes, she found she wasn't in the Jump City she knew anymore. The office buildings around her only a few seconds ago were fresh, now broken shells, hollow remainders.

All the buildings about around her, rotted, decayed. Street lamps fallen and rusted away. The ground beneath her was split from seemingly ages of disuse. Up above, the air swirled in a hazy red glow that spiraled into a yellow infinite, bathing the entire city in a macabre crimson.

Raven turned to her communicator, "Raven calling Robin… Cyborg… anybody?"

"Sorry, Rae-Rae. This place is for privacy. Even my phone wouldn't work here." Valentine advised, as she appeared, pacing down the streets nonchalantly.

"Valentine, where are we?"

"Otherside. It's a dimension that can only be accessed through certain Mirrors, one of which was on the bus that I used to transport us. Here, everything is upside down and topsy-turvy. Weakness is Strength and vice versa."

"I don't know what you want from me, Valentine, but you're letting me out. Right now."

"Or what?"

"Azar-" Raven doubled over suddenly, feeling an over exhaustion of her strength the moment her magic started. Valentine sighed.

"Rae… didn't I tell you? Everything is upside down in Otherside. The magic you're so proud of back in the normal dimension is weakened impossibly here. On the other hand… that boiling blood you keep suppressing with your meditation seems to be raging out of control, hmmm? That demon blood from Daddy that wants to burst free."

Raven looked up in shock, "How… did you know about that?"

"A bird told me." Valentine answered simply, raising her arms in a shrug, "Honestly, you're a bit of an urban legend, if you will, among the movers and shakers of the Underworld."

"Underworld?"

"Really, Raven! You really know nothing, do you! Let's have a bit of a crash course then! There are two main planes of existence in this universe. The Realm of Light, which is where all Earth is from, and the Realm of Darkness, where the Underworld exists. All the creatures you say are gods are from the Underworld. Zeus, Queztecoatl, Trigon-"

"Trigon is a demon." Raven spat back.

"True, but that doesn't make him any less powerful. And it doesn't change one drop of magic DNA in your blood, Rae-Rae-chan. The lil' kid who's destined to help Trigon conquer all of the Realm of Light…" Valentine cooed.

"Shut up!" Raven shot back, before hunching over, gritting her teeth, trying to keep her rage under control.

"C'mon Raven! You're half-demon! That's why you probably feel emotions as well! Demons eat flesh, and they prefer it flavored with the despair and horror of their victims. All that soul stuff? Naw, Demons are through-and-through carnivores."

"I am…nothing…like Him."

"Raven, it's been such a long time since I've seen a child of someone so powerful, and still alive and not killed by their parents to protect their interests. The last I've heard of were the Sons of Sparda. But think: daddy's little girl is still alive… I want to see all your strength Raven. Up close!"

"I'm not going to give in."

Valentine grinned, and brought her fingers up, "That's too bad, because that brings us to the second lesson in the Underworld. Might makes Right."

A snap of the fingers. A dull thundering started to emanate as Valentine continued, "You see, in the Underworld, the only people who have the right to say anything are those who are the strongest of the strong. Anything weak only has the right to be eaten to sustain the strong. That's why demons are so interested in conquering Earth. Millions of pitiful meat sacks just waiting to be gobbled up. It's a real free-for-all down in the Underworld. First demon who gets past Sparda's seal and conquers the world can only be considered the strongest of the strong."

Raven's features narrowed, "But you're human!"

"I know. But the end of the world isn't going to be the thing that kills me. I'm far too valuable to God of Time, and in turn, the demons."

"You're disgusting."

"I just take pride in my work. Like you should take pride in your family heritage."

"I don't care what you say. I'm not going to be anything like Him."

"Wrong. I'm going to make you use that amazing potential of yours, and you're going to want to. We're going to play a game. It's called Queen of the Castle-"

The thundering was deafening now, as creatures crawled around the sides of the buildings. Disgusting, lean, pale beings, with exposed sinew, grotesque eyes growing from everywhere, except their correct sockets. They all gathered by Valentine.

"W-What are those?"

"They're called Nobodies. Really low-level demons that infest any unstable dimensional rift between the Realms, like Otherside. If any tried to live in the demon realms, they'd get chewed before they even took a step."

Raven backed away, "You said strengths here were reversed."

"I know! I'd prefer my BooDoo People hundreds of times over this garbage. But I gotta make do. It's all a matter of your ingrained perspective really. Now about this game… I'm the Queen, and here, Might makes Right. Queen says, Raven isn't going to leave Otherside unless she's dead. What are_ you_ going to do about it?"

The Nobodies started growling, grating for blood as the girl backed away.

"Better start using daddy's genes Rae-chan, 'cause your parlor tricks won't work here. Nobodies, fetch."

The swarm of evil charged forwards, and Raven only saw one option.

Run.

And she cloak swirled behind her as she dashed down the endless cracked roads of Otherside, disgusting creatures hobbling and shrieking after her on all fours.

"Come on, Raven! This is pathetic! Your daddy is one of the high princes of the Underworld, and you're going to run from a bunch of mindless demon trash that's so weak they can't even live in their own homes?" Valentine's voice called up from above, as she observed from her hovering tome that supported her.

Raven kept on running. Valentine saw quickly she was being given the whole silent treatment. Not even given the dignity of a response. What a piercing strike to the heart.

Things were going nowhere as she continued to run. Apparently Otherside favored her running over her flying, as the Nobodies started to die away into the distance. That should say something about her physique in the real world.

Raven felt a hand grab her from behind her cloak, dragging her choking form upwards.

"Sorry, Queen says the running is boring. Shed blood, or the Nobodies'll shed yours."

Valentine dropped the two of them onto a surviving roof of a building under the red sky, where she slammed a foot against Raven's back, hand still grasping the cloak, "Really. The way you keep that hood, one would think you're ashamed to show your face. Time for a style change, darling!"

Valentine pulled on the fabric. Raven continued to gasp as the cloak constricted her neck, until she lashed out behind with a sweeping kick, knocking Valentine to her back. The fall was enough to rip away the hood from the rest of the cloak, though.

"See? A cape fit for a queen!"

"I'm not playing your game, Valentine! I won't give in!"

"Give in? Game? This isn't a game Valentine. It's a whole way of life. A whole philosophy born into you! You're denying yourself the strength daddy is giving you!"

"I don't need that strength." Raven hissed back.

"Oh, I'm sure you do. In about five seconds."

Shrieking filled the air, and Raven rushed to the side of the roof to see the swarm of naked white demons skittering up the sides of the building towards her.

"No room to run, Raven, no power to fly. Queen's painted you into a corner. What are you going to do about it?"

Raven refused until her last, as the Nobodies crawled over the roof, the magic weakened Titan trying to dodge every lunge, until one tackled her to the ground, latched onto her back.

They were upon her.

"Nobodies! Hold!"

Inside the writhing mass, they shrieked as their kill was prolonged. It parted slightly to let Raven's head come out, coughing at the smell and wretched flesh that had imprisoned her. Valentine walked over and crouched in front of her, resting her elbows on her knees, while one gloved hand had pulled out red marker.

"You know, you just really have no respect for your family heritage." Valentine commented, as she held Raven's face fast by the cheeks, while the other hand smeared two thick, short red lines above her eyebrows, "Have you no respect for yourself? Demons revere strength. How much more powerful can you be, when you're told you're the one thing that will allow daddy to conquer the entire universe? That's power right there."

"No…"

Valentine seemed irritated finally, as she grabbed either side of Raven's exposed head, "You are about to die, Rae-chan! Queen says you're about do die! There's only one way to win Queen of the Castle! And that's to usurp me and be the new queen, and reset the rules! Might makes Right, Rae-chan! You're a demon! You know the feelings running around through me! You know what you want! Break free! Tear me limb from limb! Eat my organs while I still live! Snap my bones and suck out the marrow! Glory in conquering as you eat my flesh that's marinated with fear and wondrous worship of your strength!"

"I'm… still half-human… that's what I'll use to beat your game…"

Valentine was silent for a moment, before she rose with a defeated sigh, "And for a moment, I honestly thought I'd found someone worth pledging my services to… Oh, well. Not all relationships are fairy-tale endings, yeah? Nobodies… do what you want."

Raven didn't even have time to gasp as she disappeared under the mass of demons, that all vied to devour her alive. Valentine couldn't see it from where she was, but she could spot a few telltale signs of resistance, before a silence as the Nobodies continued to gnash away."

Then it came, _"Azarath… Metrion… ZINTHOS!"_

Black energies surged, obliterating the frozen Nobodies out of existence, the gigantic pillar of dark power enough to even launch a surprised Valentine off the roof, hurtling through the air, smashing into the walls of another building with a shower of rubble and smoke that covered up the impact completely.

Raven fell to her knees panting, her body gashed and torn, glaring at the exploded building across from her, "I beat you and your demons. I win."

"Sorry! Queen is still in play!"

The building across exploded. A giant stone fist slapped down on Raven, pushing her down through the roof and the entirety of the building. Across, a rocky upper torso and limbs awkwardly protruded from the building. Valentine, covered in dust sat on a throne where the head of the living statue should have been, legs crossed, fingers clasped, canines wide out grinning.

"Man! Here is where dreams really come true! I couldn't even dream of doing this to you if we were back on Earth! I'm only the weakest of weak servants back there, but here, I'm one upside down god. But what does that make you?"

There was a silence. Valentine waited. Then a quiet whisper.

"I…am…"

"A weak creature in denial of true potential?"

"**A DESTROYER!"**

Black traveled up the stone arm, pulverizing it as Valentine's automated weapon backed away. In the center of the destruction it wreathed, pure darkness writhed and blew outwards, completely obliterating the building it was contained in. As the dust settled, Valentine watched in horrified delight at the wraith she unleashed, Raven's body disappearing into the shadows of a flowing black river, tendrils inching up and about the sides of the ruins. A body so black and dark it didn't reflect the red light of Otherside at all. So black it couldn't be defined by dimensions or depths. Raven's body was like a divide, a schism, a rupture in the fabric of existence itself. Her teeth stretched and screamed with countless fangs. Four glowing red orbs took up the space of her face as eyes.

An existence that had the power to define and destroy existence itself.

True strength.

"I'm still the Queen, Rae-Rae! What are you gonna do about it?" Valentine laughed uncontrollably

"**FEAST ON YOUR REMAINS!"**

Darkness speared through the air of Otherside, wrapping itself around the stone body of Valentine's building. The stone statue gave easily, pried off its foundation and dragged into the abyss in the center of Raven's body. Valentine shrieked with delight as she jumped off her fallen throne, and flew away on her leather bound tome. The darkness spread after her.

"**WHAT'S THE MATTER? IS THIS GOD ONLY GOOD AT RUNNING FOR ITS LIFE? ONLY THE WEAK RUN! PATHETIC!"**

"You're not much of a destroyer yourself, Rae!" Valentine sniped back as she raced down the streets of Otherside.

Raven seemed insulted by this, her red face grimacing in rage, before roaring into the sky. Shadowy shards erupted from her tall body, tearing through concrete, through metal, through everything. Valentine yelped as she was carried away in the blast.

The city of Otherside crumbled from the dark, throwing dust into the red sky.

As the city's remains settled, a tattered hand pulled itself out from under the toppled concrete.

Valentine drew a deep breath, and coughed out dust heavily. Her knit cap with the Valentine insignia had not survived the last attack, letting black bangs splay everywhere. "Ew! I'm sweaty and I ruined my Wednesday suit!"

The rubble under Valentine suddenly hoisted itself into the air, slamming Valentine into another levitating section, before the twisted sandwich was sent into the ground. Raven laughed as she appeared near the wreckage.

"**IT'S NOT ALL I'LL BE RUINING!"**

Tendrils reached deep into the rubble and snatched out the sorcerer, dragging her along the ground by her neck arms, hoping to pull Valentine into Raven's abyss body. Valentine slid onto her feet, pulling back with all her strength, even stopping her movement as she resisted.

"**OH? LIKE TO DO IT SLOWLY? VERY WELL, WATCH AS I PULL YOU IN, LIMB BY LIMB."**

Valentine gritted her teeth and pulled back harder than ever, and the fabric of her suit jacket pulled apart, letting tendrils draw in pieces of cloth, while Valentine wrestled with the energy about her neck, her torso clad only in a torn blouse.

"**WHERE'S ALL THE WISECRACKS? WHERE ARE YOUR PRIDEFUL LECTURES? ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED! COME AND BASK IN MY HATRED OF YOU!"**

Tendrils whipped about Valentine's ankles next, completely lifting her off the ground. Helplessly she hurtled through the air, until at last minute, her floating tome intercepted. Valentine's chest slammed into the unmoving volumes that was suspended stiff in the air, remained stuck.

"**WEAK CREATURE! THIS QUEEN SAYS IT'S TIME TO DIE!"**

"Sorry! But Valentine has one more trick for you demons! Add some iron filings, a bit of silver, a couple of spells, and they call it Holy Water as a joke. Acetius, Chelm, Pokias, ENTOS!"

The book supported Valentine flew open, magic turning its endless pages as a pocket dimensions was summoned. A multitude of iron-wreathed beakers filled with a clear liquid spilled out of the book, and flew right into the depths of a shocked Raven's body.

The effect was immediate. The demon screamed and tendrils lashed out of control, throwing Valentine onto her back.

Raven fell onto her back, swathed in a tattered cloak, breathing weakly. Valentine wearily walked forward, giving a wry look as she stuck a toe into the fallen sorcerer's side.

"See, Raven? That's how powerful you could be if you wanted to."

"…I can't even control it…"

"That's because of two reasons, really, if I got this right from Griffon-oldest-and-most-trusted-lieutenant-of-Mundus-ruler-of-the-Underworld-and-future-conqueror-of-the-realm-of-light. Seriously, whatever you do to suppress that power inside of you is only keeping it bottled up. You may be half-human, but you're also half-demon. You can't bottle something up like genetics. Daddy keeps a tight-leash on your powers, I hear. Every time you get angry, you use His powers. Every time you use His powers, He makes you go out of control. You go out of control, you get scare of your powers, and you stop using your full potential. A twisted cycle, eh, Rae-Rae-chan?"

Raven got to her hands and knees, coughing and glaring, "Get… away from me…"

"No way! I can't leave interesting, powerful people alone! You're turning out to be so fun! Imagine a dour end-of-the-world-kid like you being so interesting!"

"I'm not… ending anything… not if I have anything to say about it…"

"Really? Well, you sure are being productive, if I can see anything of it!"

"Shut up. I'll be ready when the time comes."

Valentine giggled as she settled down beside Raven on the rubble about them, "With whom, your friends? Don't kid! You said yourself they can't handle the world of magic, much less the Underworld. They wouldn't understand, right? Ready when the time comes? Why not just settle the matter before that?"

"Great. What do you expect me to do, walk up to Him and say I've got a problem with it?"

"Might makes Right, Rae-Rae. If you've got a problem, beat him down until he relents."

"You've got to be kidding."

"C'mon Raven! I'm the only person in the city who can help you when it comes to magic! The only one who knows anything about the Underworld…" Valentine whispered sideways into Raven's ear, stretching her palm towards an imaginary billboard in the distance.

"I don't trust anyone who works with demons and dark magic."

Valentine stuck out her tongue cheekily, and pulled back the bangs over her forehead, revealing an hourglass shaped mark upon her forehead, "I only work with the God of Time, who tells me to work with demons. But I'm willing to be your servant too, Rae-Rae."

"Why?"

"Think about it! Daddy vs Daughter! The match of the century right down in the Underworld, and I'd have front row seats to see who determines the fate of the universe! Be lucky I like you rather than your idiot daddy."

Valentine stood up and reached down, grabbing Raven by the throat and lifting the tattered demon to her feet.

Time seemed to move backwards.

-

-

-

The bus roared as it sped down the street towards Valentine and Raven. In the distance, the Titans were fighting the BooDoo People that burst out of the windows.

Valentine let go of Raven's neck and shoved her off the street, leaving Valentine to disappear under the wheels of the bus that screeched to a halt. Rather than the sounds of a body under tires and pavement, a tattered Raven looked up to see a messy Valentine waving from the windows of the bus.

"Locium, Vindai, Mundo, Accel."

A memory of a particular phone number entered Raven's mind, making her eyes widen with shock.

"This was a wonderful time, Rae! I just loved all we discussed, all the games we played! Think about it, though! If you go challenge Him, and defeat him, you'll have the say on whether you want the prophecy to go through or not, and you'll get to live the rest of your days in full control of your rightful heritage! And I'll be with you, all the way, because you're so fun! I'll be waiting for your call!"

The bus sped off, and Raven wanted to get to her feet, shout that it wasn't over and keep fighting, but all her strength left her as she collapsed to the ground again.

All that Holy Water…

-

-

-

Valentine smiled, felt like she was a million dollars, as she gracefully stepped back into the observatory of Olympus Height, covered head to toe in dust, her shirt torn messily.

"Dude! Val'! You're only gone for an hour, and you come back like this! What did they do to you?"

"Shut up D'! I had the greatest date of my life!"

Terra raised an eyebrow as she turned around to look over the sofa, "Date? You're really weird, Valentine."

Mr. Freeze didn't bat an eye, and just kept watching the television placidly, "The battle you have abandoned to your factory products are still being displayed live on the news broadcasts, Valentine. Jump City appears to be a war-zone. What did you do?"

Valentine thought for a moment, "Oh, you know. Send an invitation, meet up, ditch the chauffeurs, go for a ride, talked a little, played a game. Usual date stuff."

"As long as you didn't do anything particularly dangerous." Mr. Freeze concluded after he thought it over a few times.

Devil Hand pointed at Valentine, keeping himself between the sofa and the girl. "Dude! I'm not having dust on the couch! Get cleaned up, right now!"

Valentine leaned forward and joked, "And what are you gonna do about it?"

Devil Hand flicked her nose, making her jump back with her hands covering her face, "Ow! You're mean!"

"That's just the beginning Val'! Now stop dusting up the floor and get going!"

"Scar-y! Fine, see you later, queen!" Valentine laughed at the seething pugilist as she danced off to the showers with a light step.

-

-

-

**Episode 6: "Competition"- The weeks of grace for the Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons are over. Now it's come for them to play with the big names of Jump City. Like the Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People.**


	6. Competition

A/N: The DMC Mythos I adapted for use in Chapter 5 is based off the those created by Author Laryna6, who also operates mainly in the DMC section thus far. So, I don't take any credit for it, she should. Read her stuff, really. She does such a great job putting a sense of humanity is the very John-Woo world of DMC, plus the back-stories she creates… never mind, just check up her stories some time, right?

-

-

-

Late night, and Gizmo needed sleep, and made it quite clear.

"Move it, Kludge-heads! There's no second chance if you snot-buckets screw this up!" The boy on a jetpack shouted disdainfully to his two partners-in-crime as he shoved gold and diamonds into his sack.

Jinx scoffed, and flicked out sparkling and enchanted light at a safety deposit box that was thrown to the ground among others. The locks on the metal containers malfunctioned easily, leaving entire families' inheritances for the girl to pick through, "Get a grip, Gizmo. We hit this place before, and security hasn't even picked up. We're fine."

"What about them pip-squeak good-guys? They tried to trash us the last time we were here." A particular Mammoth of a man snorted as he approached the pair, his arms hugging a load of gold bars.

Gizmo sneered as he rubbed a finger under his nose, "No problem! I jumpstarted a few alarms around at some other places before we started here! Those crud-munchers will be chasing false leads long enough!"

"Then let's get going. We've got enough to hold us down for a while." Jinx said, hefting a sack of her own over her shoulder.

As the three of them leapt through the smashed vault door, Gizmo still couldn't help but sneer, "Yeah! Perfect get-away! Nothing could get in out way-"

Except for a bus. Like the one that smashed through the front glass windows of the depository, narrowly running down the three villains who jumped out of the way before sliding around to a halt. As the door opened on the side of the bus, Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth could hear three distinct voices from within.

"Dude… Boss… can we stop running a bus into everything? I'm thinking I'm going to be losing years offa my life the way this keeps up."

"If you can find a suitable replacement for this bus for purposes of a battering ram, I will consider it."

"Nggggah… Freezie. My bus isn't invincible! You know how much TLC I put into these things? And you just keep telling me, 'ram, ram, ram'!"

"Because it is an efficient tactic, seeing the profit one makes after raiding this facility, made possible by forced entry."

"Yeah… Val' you are sure nobody else staked out this place, right?"

A girl in a suit appeared, looking backward into the confines of the bus while snorting, a boy in a winter jacket and a cowboy in a red leather jacket following, "Don't be an idiot! This place is well under our jurisdiction-"

That was when Valentine turned around to see the three on the ground, valuables scattered about them.

Eyes met.

The awkward silence in the air was so thick you could taste it.

-

-

-

**Competition**

-

-

-

As always, Valentine proved to be a valuable icebreaker, as her eyes bulged at what was wrapped around Jinx's neck, "HEY! I was going to steal that! Get your neck off that!"

"Me! Who the heck are you!"

"You answer me! We've been planning to hit this place for over a week!"

Gizmo spat, "A whole stinkin' week? We were going over this for a MONTH! Take that!"

"Actually. A whole month is tactically unsound. Too many variables could occur, complicating an already complicated plan. It is best to keep the framework of a heist simple." Mr. Freeze suddenly countered.

"Who asked for your opinion, you scum-runner!"

"…Excuse me?"

"Moth brains!"

"Clarify."

"Crud Muncher!"

"I do not understand."

"You stupid… dumb… slime-eating, face-stuffing, snot-sucker!"

Devil Hand's eyes widened from behind his never-removed shades, "Dude! Boss! You're gonna take smack like that?"

"Oh, you understand the etymology of those phrases? I personally am ignorant of these particular ones."

"Er… no…"

Valentine shouted back over to the trio before them, "Come on! Drop the goods and get! This is our turf!"

"No way! There's plenty left in the vault! Go and get that!" Jinx shot back.

"Nuh-uh! I'm not giving away freebies! This is our bank, and I mean it, every last penny! So back off!"

Mammoth took a threatening step forward, "You back off, pip-squeaks. Guys from the HIVE don't take orders from anyone, except from the Headmaster."

Devil Hand frowned in thought at the words for a few seconds, before a realization hit him, "Dude! I was there when I read the papers! Wasn't the HIVE school place like the place that got the axe by those heroes a few months back? Dude, Boss, you weren't even here when they got beat down."

"Irrelevant."

"So what?" Jinx snorted, "With this money, we can restart the HIVE!"

"Yeah, well get that money from another vault!" Valentine sneered, "This vault's is claimed by the Friece and Valentine Foundation!"

Gizmo also moved a few feet forward challengingly, "Oh yeah? Maybe we should take it from you, just to prove we're better than you dweebs!"

Jinx followed, "Actually… I like that idea. I don't get told off by new-comers."

Devil Hand pointed at the approaching trio, "Okay, whatever. Since we're going to go down and dirty for it, I can do the talkin' smack, too. You. Gizmo, right?"

"What's it to you, barf-brains?"

"…Is it just me, or are you wearing baby pajamas?"

Gizmo's face was blank at the words for a second, before the boy suddenly began shaking with rage. You could almost see the steam as he shouted, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

A touch of a button, and a trio of rockets came out from Gizmo's backpack. The Foundation members dodged away from the miniature explosions that shot at them, Mr. Freeze meanwhile humming in thought.

"It appears there is no other alternative at the moment."

Valentine grinned wider than ever, bringing up her fingers, "Come on then! Ciao!"

The windows on her bus shattered at her command, letting her ghoul soldiers fire out of the vehicle at the Foundation's opponents. Amidst the bullets, Jinx shouted to her comrades, "Guys! Gamma Maneuver! Move it!"

"Choose one and nullify him or her." Mr. Freeze countered, skating towards the closest enemy, which happened to also be HIVE's resident master of bad luck. Devil Hand somewhere rushed down Mammoth, while Valentine stood, laughed, and watched Gizmo zip away from the battery of firepower that was her bus.

Mr. Freeze decided to handle things directly, swinging his open lighter downward, and letting a thick column of frozen flame fall towards Jinx. The pale child merely countered with flourishing spins and twirls, letting sparkling power ribbon around her protectively from her waving fingertips. The two energies clashed for only a few moments, before the blue fire merely evaporated.

How curious. I would almost conclude abilities similar to the Starfire's: high-heat energy emission… but…

Leaving his analysis for later, Freeze continued to blast and slash with his icy lighter, though Jinx nimbly evaded the direction of each attack. In mid-leap over another blast, Jinx suddenly noticed her landing point suddenly growing a thick slab of shining ice over it. Unable to stop her self, she slid off her feet and crashed with a yelp. Quickly flipping to her knees, Jinx found Freeze above her, lighter ready to drop a ton of ice onto her being.

Jinx threw out her palms, energy flashing. The lighter's flame fizzled out.

Mr. Freeze blinked. He hit the flint once. Twice. No flame came about again.

"A fault…? Unlikely… Valentine's devices have never failed-"

A high platform boot slammed into his midsection during his shocking new revelation, while Jinx sneered, "Well, that's just bad luck for you, isn't it? Here's another dose. Seven years worth of it."

A flash, and Freeze was bouncing across the room for Jinx's idle entertainment.

Devil Hand meanwhile had flown through the air, both feet slamming into Mammoth's face. As the brawler dropped away, Mammoth snorted.

"I've took better shots in a massage parlor. Is that the best you got?"

"Dude, you don't say that to a guy who's made of pure, unadulterated, Alexander-ness!" Devil Hand growled back, his fists also arguing that point as they riddled Mammoth's chest.

A large hand wrapped itself over the cowboy's head, its owner grumbling an annoyed, "Shut. Up.", before slamming the man into the ground several times. Tossing the brawler into the air, Mammoth's mighty backhand sent Devil Hand flying across the room as well.

Valentine snorted at the sight of her boys getting thrashed, and snapped her fingers, causing the direction of the BooDoo fire from the bus to split its focus between the remaining HIVE as well, rather than just slowly pulverize Gizmo's protection as he covered himself behind a column. As the gunfire became more scattered, Gizmo's form rocketed out from the shattered column, making Valentine grin as she ordered her troops to fire at the boy.

As the bullets hit, the hologram collapsed before a dumb-founded Valentine.

"Hey! Stupid! Check this out!"

The sorcerer twisted around to find a sleeker, slimmer missile coming out of her blindside, and burrowing deep into the side of the bus. The following fireball that replaced the bus slammed into Valentine's midsection, throwing her through the air next.

Jinx laughed as she launched another foot into Mr. Freeze's hunched and un-retaliating body, knocking the boy to his back, "You guys really were nothing but talk in the beginning, huh? You're useless without your little toy!"

Another burst of bad luck from Jinx rendered Freeze unmoving as he slid across the ground to a spot near the burning bus.

Mammoth chortled as spun about, the Devil Hand he gripped onto by his ankles on the outside of the increasingly faster revolutions. In an instant, he was tossed, the speeding red projectile having enough force to drill right through one of the columns in the room. Falling limply on the other side of the wreckage, Devil Hand lay prone as rocky portions of the destroyed pillar buried him.

Valentine had the unfortunate luck to get up, groaning and rubbing her head, while she tried to remember the number of her bus that just blew up._ I'm gonna have to fix that weakness later…_

In a moment, she found herself surrounded by the HIVE members. Valentine indignantly folded her arms and sulked, "What?"

There wasn't much to be said. After Gizmo left her hanging upside down from the ceiling, Valentine fumed.

"Hey. Is anybody from our Foundation alive?"

Mr. Freeze's voice painfully whispered back, "It appears that Devil Hand is unconscious, or at least unable to make verbal communication with us. I am unwell."

"Well, that sure jiffs it! Valentine never takes second pickings! This sucks!"

-

-

-

Terra pulled on her new outfit and admired the colors. After a few weeks of nothing but washed and rewashed white dresses, the team pitched in with their taste of design.

"Her color's yellow." Valentine noted.

"I believe it would be advisable for her to carry some form of eye-protection. Perhaps goggles." Mr. Freeze also inputted.

"Gloves, man. She needs gloves." Devil Hand finished off.

Thus, while the three of them were of heisting to their hearts delight, Terra, though somewhat reluctantly, stayed behind on Mr. Freeze's command, enjoying her new outfit. A form-fitting jacket covered the geokinetic, and on Valentine's behest, the color scheme fitted to be like those of infamous Bruce Lee, black stripes over yellow expanses. Deep blue shorts stopped just above her knees, showing off her thin legs that ended in collared, tough shoes. Devil Hand's fingerless-gloved touch also found itself onto Terra's own hands. Mr. Freeze's advised goggles were around her neck.

All in all, Terra felt very good outside of a white dress. Very good.

Then the elevator in the observatory room Terra was in dinged, letting the doors slide open with its occupants and sacks of money.

"Hey guys! You're back-"

"You two idiots are Freezie and Devil Hand! How on earth could you two idiots lose to those other idiots? My loss is your fault!"

"Our fault? Look Val', you're the one who got owned by pajama boy, not me! Not Boss!"

"I had to break up my concentrated fire to assist your two sorry butts! I was on a roll! What about you Freezie! You let that cheerleader-ballerina-goth kick you around!"

"My main armament had some sort of mechanical fault in it."

"Impossible! I always made them perfect!"

"Tonight, it was not functioning. That I am sure of. Therefore, I hold you responsible for the mechanical error."

"Oh, so it's my fault that your lighter is broken!"

"It would be."

"Oswald! You jerk! If you have such a problem with my lighters, MAKE YOUR OWN!"

"Hey! Val'! We all screwed up! Don't just blame us! You messed up just as much as anybody else!"

"You don't talk to me that way D'! What about your God Hand you're so proud of? HUH? And you got beat down by some big oaf!"

"Well your zombies weren't exactly a fancy piece of work against pajama boy!"

"Well if you think you can do a better job, go ahead!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The Factory door slammed shut. Mr. Freeze returned down the elevator to his room. Terra was left confusedly blinking while Devil Hand slouched on the sofa. You couldn't see the dark cloud above his head, but his left arm burning a seething orange was enough to make anyone back away.

-

-

-

In the morning, things hadn't improved. The three glowered at each other around the kitchen table they slid into the observatory for breakfast, and Terra wasn't exactly fond of the tension.

"Dude, Boss! I told you we could have used Terra!"

"We all agreed that Terra was not ready for active duty yet. Her current ability is not yet sufficient."

"So when is she going to be ready, Freezie? When those losers kick our butts again?"

"The loss is irrelevant. Our main objective was to collect funds. We have done so."

"Not without losing to them! We can't lose! Now we look bad in front of everyone!"

"Dude! Boss, once you lose, they'll keep muscling in! They'll think they can push us around!"

"It would have been more efficient if merely negotiated a deal. Unfortunately, the two of you were so eager to fight I was unable to voice such an option."

"Again! Our fault, but not Freezie's since he's so calm, he never makes a mistake!"

"I am simply aware of the priorities."

"Yeah. Aware. Mr. Aware. Well since you're so perfect, I guess you don't need my help for today! C'mon Terra!"

Things were certainly getting strange, as the two girls dragged one another off to the elevator.

"Valentine. Her training-"

"You can train her later, _Oswald_."

The elevator doors, amazingly, slammed shut. Devil Hand also gave a look to his emotionless leader. "Well, Boss. Looks like it's a day off for all of us. See you later, too."

Devil Hand tromped off as well, leaving Mr. Freeze to finish breakfast for the four of them

-

-

-

"Insensitive jerk…" Valentine snorted through a smoothie as they sat in the mall food-court. A simple, one-word spell made the pair generally unobvious to the outside world.

It was well in the afternoon, and the fragmented Friece and Valentine Foundation had yet to contact each other.

"Does this happen often?" Terra hesitantly asked after a while.

"Whenever something messes up. Freezie always thinks he's the one at least fault, since he's _so_ emotionless. Jerk. I should lick him on the face and give him a third degree burn."

Terra tried to console, "Well… you do have to admit he's been doing a good job leading the team since you all arrived…"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's perfect! Jerk. Such a jerk. Insensitive to the ways of a woman…"

Terra herself was a little bit doubtful if Valentine could attribute her tastes to all those of the ways of a woman, but decided to ask about something else, "Valentine, why did you call Freeze 'Oswald'?"

"That was his first, first, first name. I do it sometimes to remind him he's still human, as much as he likes to deny it. Jerk."

Terra sighed, "Nothing's going to happen until somebody apologizes, isn't it?"

"It better not be me! I didn't do anything wrong! Those two other oafs screwed up last night…"

-

-

-

After draining an incomprehensible number of smoothies, the two of them hightailed it back to Olympus Height when they happen to notice "Rae-Rae-chan" and "The Starfire" dragging each other into the shopping mall. Today was a day off after all; there was no need to start a fight.

So Terra found herself free again, as Valentine entrenched herself firmly in venting her still foul moods on her Factory projects. So, with nothing better to do, the Foundation's newest member made her way to Mr. Freeze's side of the mountain.

Deep in the network of fluorescent-lit hallways, a door opened before Terra, letting white mist pour out of the cold room.

"Freeze? You in here?"

"Wear one of the jackets. It will reduce your probability of being inflicted with hypothermia while you are here."

Obeying for fear of her health, a considerably more bundled Terra made her way into the deeper recesses of the ice-covered room, mist crowding about her feet, coming out as her breath. At the far end of the generally Spartan chamber was Mr. Freeze crouched over a desk, working on some machinery that took up the entire surface of the working space.

"You request my audience?" Freeze murmured, not turning back.

"Just… wanted to talk about what happened last night." Terra tried.

"A mechanical fault in my lighter gave the advantage to my opponent. Devil Hand was not able to regain his momentum against his own opponent as well. Valentine attempted to assist us, resulting in her own failure as well. Thereafter, we collected our priority funds and returned."

"Oh… er, what are you working on?"

"My opponent had an interesting ability. This device might theoretically counter her powers."

"Is it complicated?"

"Extremely. I suspect Valentine would have a better grasp of the mechanics than I."

_Not again…_ "Don't tell me you're not going to talk to the other guys until one of them apologizes!"

"Valentine and Devil Hand are both emotional to the point of pettiness, and refuse to recognize their errors. Our purpose is to ascertain funds, not win every battle that arises. Negotiation was a probable option. Now we are trapped in this pointless territorial battle with these HIVE particulars."

"Well, you have to admit they have a point, right? I mean, you're pretty much appointed team leader, so you have to take some opinions, right?"

"I would still like for them to note my tactics are still generally more efficient than theirs."

_I can see why Valentine would get annoyed with him…_

-

-

-

Night fell, and the observatory room was bathed in a dark-light contrast of hanging lamps that cast shadows in plentiful corners. It made nine o'clock feel like one in the morning.

"Devil Hand, please tell me you don't have a grudge with the other two."

The man in question poked his head out of the fridge that was placed against one of the vertical braces of the telescope, a bottle of tomato juice hanging from his lips.

"Gnugh?"

"D', get that out of your mouth."

"…Well, not really. Boss 'n Val' having a spat with each other?"

Terra snorted as she sat down on the couch, "They think it's everybody else's fault. Including you."

"Well that sucks! I didn't even know I did something wrong. Guess I'm gonna have to say sorry 'n all that right?" Devil Hand sighed. Out of curiosity, he sat in front of the telescope, peering through to the city below, while Terra kept talking.

"It's going to take a miracle to get anyone in this place talking to each other anytime soon."

"We're talking."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, Boss is nothing but ice water who doesn't care, and Val's blazin', and cares too much! Course you're gonna get some steam between them sometime."

"So what are we supposed to do? They're not even willing to talk to each other! We're never going to get anything done!"

"…Oh, carp…" Devil Hand suddenly muttered, annoyed.

"What?"

"Man, right now I'm seeing those three guys breaking into the mall. That is totally our mall, man. Freakin' muscling in…"

A phone call later brought Valentine and Freeze up, both obviously not giving each other the right to look at each other, while Devil Hand explained the situation.

"Well, I suppose Freezie wants to negotiate again." Valentine shot under her breath

"I do not even see the point of fending off the HIVE from the mall. It serves no interest to us." Mr. Freeze blandly put it.

Devil Hand choked at that, "Dude! Guys! We can't let them push us around! The mall is on our turf! If we let them go, they'll keep going for bigger things!"

Valentine shot up her arms, "Whatever! Freezie's too stuck up to listen to us anyways! I'll handle this myself, or Freezie will blame more broken lighters on me! Jerk!"

"You do not address the leader of the group like that."

"Oh! Pulling rank, now!_ Oswald_?"

"That too."

"C'mon guys! We shouldn't be arguing like this-" Devil Hand interjected.

"You shut up! You weren't even that much of a help last night!"

"QUIET!"

Terra's threat was backed by a tremor the traveled up Olympus Height. The gods were not happy tonight.

"We don't have time for this! It's everybody's fault, and everybody's going to go around in a circle to apologize, and then we're all going to go down to the mall, and stop those guys, and then rob it ourselves! GOT IT?" Terra hoarsely lectured.

Silence.

Devil Hand coughed, "I… er… I guess I'll go first… Icebreakin' and all… er…"

"Go!"

"Okay! Devil Hand is sorry that even though he's got a God Hand and made of pure, unadulterated Alexander-ness, he still lost to that big guy, and made Valentine break up her concentration while she was fighting pajama boy! Okay?"

Valentine scrunched up her face, but eventually conceded with folded arms, "I'm sorry… I… blamed Freezie… and D'… for messing everything up…I lost… and… itwasmyfault!"

Mr. Freeze was silent, before he lit another of his cylinders, breathing out white mist. "Given the extenuating circumstances, I believe I should also apologize to Valentine and Devil Hand for believing it was their fault alone for instigating last night's combat, and blaming their emotional conduct. I still believe that Valentine's lighter was faulty though."

"Faulty! Freezie, I swear, I never mess up making lighters! Besides it only messed up when you were fighting that Jinx!"

Terra frowned at the name, something niggling at the back of her head, "Jinx?"

"What, you know her?"

"I'm not sure really. I suddenly recall that people said she was some sort of master of bad luck, or something. I don't remember exactly, though."

Valentine turned back to Freeze, triumphant, "Ah-ha! I told you!"

"It would give plausibility to a theory I've been developing. Either way, I will admit that our tactics from last night were not sufficient. I have some particular strategies…"

Freeze looked to the geokinetic.

"…and Terra, who is of this moment, on the active roster, will be instrumental."

-

-

-

The crowds gave their customary screams as they evacuated the mall, which remained open even at these hours. Gizmo was ripping electronics out the arcades, Mammoth was raiding the hotdog machine, Jinx was picking through the deliciously high-priced clothing, and all three of them loved every moment of it.

"You think those new guys are going to come and rain on our parade?" Mammoth rumbled between bits of packaged meat.

"Yeah right! I bet those scrub-cloggers are shaking scared in their two-bit hideout!" Gizmo snickered, reeling motherboards into his sack of goods.

"Besides, we already saw what they could do. They were just a bunch of pushovers." Jinx settled, a pile of dresses stacked over her shoulder.

That was when the bus crashed through the glass doors, screeching to another déjà vu halt in front of the HIVE members.

Devil Hand was immediately out, pointing at Mammoth, "Okay, fat boy. Round two!"

Valentine came out sneering, "Yeah! We're not leaving until we're done, okay?"

The other three laughed at this, before Jinx recovered from the comment first, "You guys lost to us even when you were evenly matched! It's three on two, now!"

"Yeah! Your Eskimo looking loser was smart to not come this time!"

Valentine kept on smiling, and open phone suddenly in one of her hands, "Actually, Freezie's waiting in the car park. Don't keep him waiting, lil' goth! Freeze and I are dying to show you our new science project! Terra! Commence!"

That was when the marble flooring beneath Jinx gave away, leaving the girl the scream as she headed into the abyss below.

-

-

-

"Terra. I wish to handle this matter personally. You must go assist Devil Hand and Valentine."

"Are you sure?"

"Despite my earlier misgivings, I still place my full trust on any of Valentine's constructions. I will be fine. Go."

The voices wakened Jinx. When she came to, and found herself in the car park on her back. Above her, the concrete tunnel that carved its path all the way up to the mall was rapidly closing. Rising, she found herself alone with Mr. Freeze, whoever he was conversing with earlier very much gone. Mr. Freeze seemed to have been prepared this time. On his back he wore some sort of drum shaped backpack, humming alive with electronics. Slung under his arm was a long cannon of sorts that was hooked to the backpack.

"I see that you are awake. Good. I was hoping to examine the validity of my hypothesis."

Jinx's features darkened, powers glower at her tips, "So you have to get beat down twice to learn anything, huh?"

"Actually, I believe I learned much from our last encounter, hence, my hypothesis."

Jinx spun and released energy about her, hitting lamps and parked parks around Freeze, "Hypothesize THIS!"

"That is the point." Freeze remarked, and aimed his large cannon everywhere around him. Cars froze white, lamps froze before they fell, and Freeze didn't stop. The beam of ice white and blue stretched over everything the car park, icing columns and concrete, metal and exits, until everything was a frozen white.

Jinx scoffed, steam coming from her mouth, "So it's a fancier ice machine, huh? I can still affect ice!"

Jinx twirled again bringing bad luck to the icicles above Freeze. Nothing happened.

"What…?"

Jinx spat more energy. Columns, frozen fixtures, anything. Nothing.

"My… my powers!"

Freeze began to step forward; cannon aimed on Jinx always, "Are you aware of the theory of entropy? Objects with energy become unstable, causing its physical state to undergo degradation. Your powers seem to hyper accelerate the instability of the energy within objects, causing them to degrade within moments."

Hefting up his cannon, the boy in blue remarked, "This is Zero Heat, as coined by my associate. Any object the beam comes in contact with, the temperature of the device reaches zero Kelvin, losing all possible heat. Do you know what happens at zero Kelvin? The object loses all energy. Completely. No energy is equitable to no entropy. I have nullified you ability, Jinx."

Jinx could feel her sweat frosting in the cold air, while she laughed it off, "Oh yeah? Try this!"

She brought her waves of bad luck directly at Freeze himself. The boy merely fired directly at the energized particles headed towards him, turning the blast of energy into a block of ice that crashed to the ground.

"It appears my hypothesis has been proven. I shall be taking my leave." Mr. Freeze turned about and began to head to a surviving exit.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! We're still fighting!"

"I have already nullified your ability. Any semblance of real combat would be in the mall above, not with you."

Jinx raged, and charged towards Freeze, who was at the exit. The boy turned about and aimed Zero Heat at the doorway, and froze the opening shut behind him.

Sliding to a halt, Jinx realized what had just happened. She was trapped, and there was no way out.

-

-

-

"You couldn't even bruise me! What makes you think you can do anything now?" Mammoth laughed at Devil Hand.

"Dude. Between you and me, I've got the know-how for kick-butt. Plus I'm smarter, and I'm more handsome. I know what I can do."

With that the two rushed at each other. In moments, Devil Hand this time found both his knees in Mammoth's face, and dropped back down.

"I told you! Whatever you do, you're not strong enough to even-GNRGH!"

Devil Hand brought an amber heel backwards into Mammoth's groin. Not much more needed to be said of that. Left arm glowing, the Foundation's brawler let all his might through in his swing, the blade of energy plough vertically into Mammoth's scrunched form, launching him through the air. As he slid to a halt under a section of the second level, Terra had finally arrived from below ground from another stairway. Devil Hand shouted to her, pointing to the pathways that hung suspended over Mammoth.

"Ter'! The second level! Collapse it! Drop it! Boom!"

"Got it!"

Snapping her goggles over her eyes, Terra threw glowing fists towards the pathways that jutted out of the walls. In moments, the structures lining the mall shook loose, spilling dust and loose pebbles everywhere. Bringing her fists down, the entire level smashed into the ground. Somewhere, Mammoth was buried under the heavy concrete.

Above in the air, Gizmo fired down at Valentine's bus, letting the rounds rip apart the bus again.

"Not much without your stupid bus, girlie?" The flying green form laughed as he strafed by Valentine.

"Sorry, but I made more expensive models this time! Orcmen! Go!"

A snap of the fingers, and new creatures exploded from the destroyed bus in an orderly fashion. White, bald, skinny, tall creatures, all clad in business suits and sunglasses, a pair of scrimpy batwings jutting out of each creature's left shoulder. Striding out, with legs like springs, they all leapt through the air like a rocket, leaving Gizmo to shriek his way through the air as he tried to escape from the agile legion. Earthen pillars also suddenly started crashing through the ground, littering Gizmo's flight path with obstacles, while providing the Orcmen with rudimentary ladders for them to scuttle up and after the flying boy.

"Forget this! I'm out of here!" Gizmo shouted, flying for the glass roof of the mall, while stone pillars and business-suited orcmen chased after him. As he neared the glass, a giant blaze of blue washed over the glass, turning it into inches thick worth of ice. Skating upside down upon its surface, Mr. Freeze sped forward to intercept Gizmo, and in a single bound, dove off the ice and latched himself onto the boy genius' backpack, sending them sprawling through the air.

"Let go you dweeb!"

"I will not comply."

Also refusing to comply were about ten different orcmen who jumped onto the Gizmo, who was unable to rise with Freeze's extra weight. The pile quickly rushed towards the ground. Terra gave out a cry of concern, though Valentine snickered as she tossed her gigantic tome underneath the falling mass.

"Wingardium, Leviosum, Vertium, Rayse!"

The pile slammed into a cushion of air a few feet off the ground, where then they gently fell to the earth. Devil Hand jumped onto the dog pile with a throaty and heroic cry of "Never fear! D's here!"

It took a bit of effort, but eventually everything was peeled of the Gizmo in the center of it all, including his adored mechanical backpack. He sat with arms folded, sulking a "What?"

He was promptly buried up to his neck in solid ice, "Hey! What are you fart-heads thinking?"

Valentine turned a smirking face to Freeze, "Well, Freezie, what do you think?"

"I am making an official statement, Gizmo. I hope you make this known to the others. From tonight onwards, all properties on the south side of Jump City are under the jurisdiction of the Friece and Valentine Foundation for Extraordinarily Talented Persons. Only we are allowed to commit felony in this area. Any others who do without our sanction and fail to comply, will be summarily punished. Is this an acceptable statement?"

Devil Hand shrugged, "Seems to cover it all for me."

Valentine gave it her approval, "I like it!"

Terra also gave her nod, "I like it."

"I think it sucks-" Gizmo began.

Four death glares.

"I mean… sure…" Was the shriveled ending.

There were a few scattered cheers between the four Foundation members, especially when Freeze commended their newest active addition.

"I should have put you on active duty sooner. You are quickly showing yourself to be a vital member."

Terra gave a bit of a fluster, but kept it to a shining smile. Devil Hand cut in.

"Well, Boss. We won tonight. And we trashed the mall. So now what?"

Valentine bounced with an idea, "Oh! Oh! I know! There's this place down in the food court, and they make really good smoothies! Who's with me for free smoothies?"

A few hours later, the Titans would arrive to find Jinx with hypothermia, Gizmo with a bad cold, and Mammoth with a concussion. The Foundation members, though, found themselves in bed, full, cheerful, and quite sick of the flavor of strawberries for the next several days.

-

-

-

**Episode 7: "Lucky Clover" – To put it simply, Devil Hand always wanted a pet. Despite his peers' protestations, he lands himself with the dog of his dreams. Then things start going strange as their new addition comes with a very strange bite…**


	7. Lucky Clover

Terra watched Devil Hand put a finish to his particular armored security officer with a hard kick that sent the man like a missile across the room. Lab equipment shattered and scattered everywhere, and sirens roared in the distance.

"Guys, isn't this a little… excessive? I mean all we really need to do is go to the zoo-"

Valentine snorted and let one of her long legs step on the edge of one of the large tables that dotted the room, "Don't be ridiculous, Achey Breaky! Breaking into a genetics lab is more fun! Plus, all the other guys would laugh at us if we actually did rob a zoo! Rob a zoo…"

The sorcerer disappeared into her own little tangent about the foolishness of zoo robbing, while Mr. Freeze flipped through a clipboard of folders, picking up where the former had begun.

"At any rate, I would prefer Devil Hand's Wish to have some level of productivity in our Foundation, and I suspect mere beasts will not do… the specimen holding cages are through this door. Let us proceed."

A hallway and a electronically locked – now frozen – door later, the four of them found themselves in facing a massive inky darkness.

"Soo…" Valentine drawled, "Anyone see a light?"

Devil Hand's finger flicked a tab, bringing blinking lights up to speed. Inky darkness was illuminated into a gigantic processing facility, not unlike Valentine's Factory. Barking beasts of all shapes and sizes, trapped in cages that were moved on automated conveyers, stored in rows across the room, carried through the air on mechanical claws. Tagged, analyzed, filed, cross-referenced.

There was a strange silence as they watched it all for a few seconds, then Mr. Freeze spoke up, "I am unsure of the estimated time of arrival of the local crime-prevention agency, factoring Valentine's products that are fortifying the perimeter of this laboratory. Devil Hand, go quickly and acquisition your… pet."

-

-

-

**Lucky Clover**

-

-

-

_Well, D', pick and choose, pick and choose…_

D' muttered to himself as he ran alongside the cages, letting instinct carry him towards what he thought was best, and further and further away from the battle that was ripping apart the entrance area of the holding…room…whatever… Devil Hand didn't catch the fancy words that Boss had used to describe the place.

_WAIT! D' SENSE! TINGLING!_

Sliding to a halt, Devil Hand stopped in front of a break in the rows of cages. Instead of a wall, a giant armored blast door had sealed up the side in its place, large black bold stating "HIGH SECURITY SPECIMENS! AUTHORIZED ENTRANCE ONLY!"

Devil Hand shot his arms into the air in victory, "Sweet! VIP pets! Hmm… about this door…"

Five seconds later, the blast door was blown inwards into the room, an impression of a left-handed fist dented into the front. As the cowboy walked into yet another darkly-suspenseful room, a single light flooded down on a hexagonal cage that stood atop a pedestal.

"A VIP-VIP pet! Maybe this one shoots lasers out of its eyes…" Devil Hand began to ponder…

Then he found his head wrapped full of grappling line, a jerk sending him backwards to the ground with a surprised, "G-lrck!"

"Maybe you should quit while you're ahead, Devil Hand."

The man in question shot up, frowning at the snooty voice. Snooty voice! Turning around, Devil Hand sniffed at Robin, cabling still about his face. The copycat! Devil Hand was WAY older than this kid, so therefore he was the original guy to be the guy-in-the-team-to-wear-stuff-that-covered-the-eyes-and-wear-red-and-wear-really-good-boots.

Okay, maybe not the boots.

"Dude! That's not cool! I should punch you in the face for it!"

"What are you guys planning this time?"

"I dunno. Just… steal a pet for today. We're not really big on the whole Master Plan sort of thing the other guys do. Now are we gonna get to it or not?"

Robin replied physically, forcing Devil Hand to duck under a spread of red blades. Reaching out with halo of light in his left hand, D' reeled the Titan in with a blast of energy, before his other fist smashed into Robin's face, sending him back. Stumbling to a halt, Robin only managed to back away from a flying scissor kick and dodge out of the way of a follow-up thrusting wrist that mimicked Drunken Fist. As he spun around to the supernatural brawler's exposed behind, Robin planted a staff into the back of his head.

"O-ow! Since when did you have a weapon?"

Robin merely spun his rod about into a stance.

Devil Hand sniffed indignantly again, "…Man, I never liked those silent, serious types. Can't enjoy anything-"

In an instant, Devil Hand had already shot forward, sending a flaming ankle into the ground where Robin had just disappeared, sending bits of flooring everywhere from the gouge he just made. Ducking under another swing, Devil Hand spun about, his burning backhand directed at Robin's head, which jerked back from the attack. After that, Boy Wonder lunged back forward, slicing away with his rod while Devil Hand managed to twist out of and block each attack, sometimes managing a single retaliation amongst the dozens of steel returns from Robin. Barely managing to catch a thrust at his collar, D' twisted his fingers about the end of the staff, turning the catch into a vice-grip which Robin was unable to pull his weapon away from. Before he could do anything, Devil Hand was already charging up his left arm in another vertical slash.

"Game! Set-"

And before Devil Hand could do anything, there was an explosion, and he caught a face full of Terra, Freeze, and Valentine that conveniently hurtled into him, carrying him away from his current match, and tossing the entire Foundation across the "VIP pets" room and into the back wall.

Miraculously, it was only now that the cage on the pedestal fell off, making whatever inside yelp as it bounced on the ground.

As the other Titans rushed towards the side chamber, Valentine managed to pull herself out from under Terra's body, pouting, "This sucks! This should only happen in kiddy cartoons. Or really dumb stories!"

D' shoved Freeze's head out of his face, snarling, "Dude! I was on a roll! Why did you have to do that!"

"Enough." Mr. Freeze sternly commanded as he finally crawled out of the pile, the body heat about him irritating his skin, "Devil Hand. Have you completed your objective yet?"

Devil Hand looked at the cage in front of him for a few seconds before scrambling and snatching it up, "Got it!"

Mr. Freeze gave a blank sort of look of disdain at random snatching up, but turned his attention to the Titans that were beginning to pile into an already cramped room.

"Valentine, can you secure our escape?"

"Freezie, look at this room! Does it look big enough to hold a bus in?"

"Too close for comfort, Valentine?" Raven mocked from her group. The one in question merely jutted out her hip and sneered back.

"Just between a rock and a Rae-Rae-chan! But guess which one moves real easy?"

Wink, Wink. Nudge, Nudge. Terra slapped her goggles on double quick, "Let's find out!"

Fists blazing like the sun, Terra exerted her will into the room about her, which, despite the steel about her, was still settled on the foundation that was mother earth. The facility shook, and creatures in their cages shrieked in fear, but nothing budged, despite the Goekinetic's breathes beginning to hitch in exhaustion.

Mr. Freeze remained placid at the situation shaking up about him, "Terra. I advise the cessation of your action. It might be permanently adverse to your physiology."

"I can do it Freeze!" Terra shouted back.

"I am afraid of what it would cost."

Robin was already on top of the situation. Seeing the pause in the enemy activity, he shouted to his comrades, "Come on! We have to get them now!" and at that, rushed towards the four at the end of the fairly cramped room.

Terra narrowed her eyes at the oncoming, "Get away!"

Redirecting a glowing fist at the Titans, she willed and screamed, and the world was rent in two. In a blink of an eye the room was ripped in two even halves, the entire building ripped in two between the Titans and the Foundation, a deep crevice disappearing into the dark at Terra's feet, while the heroes barely managed to skid to a halt in front of the cleft.

Terra gasped for breath, here eyes rolling upwards into unconsciousness, before taking a dive into the depths of her element.

Beast Boy's eyes widened and tried to reach for the falling girl, "Terra!"

The shape shifter was knocked back by a flying spine of a book to the face, which quickly retreated back into orbit around a cackling Valentine, "Really! Achey-Breaky takes a plunge before I even suggest my idea! What a genius!"

Freeze seemed to share the same thoughts as the other Founder, as he turned to her, "After you, Valentine."

Devil Hand shifted his animal cargo uneasily at the apathy of his teammates at Terra's falling demise, "Guys! Ter's gonna die!"

Valentine grinned, "Well! We're going to have to fix that, aren't we?"

And promptly slammed her foot into Devil Hand's back, knocking him yelping into the chasm. The Sorceress gave a two-fingered salute to her enemies as well, "In Japanese… Abayo!" before throwing herself down as well. Mr. Freeze also dropped without much ado.

Beast Boy's face stretched in disbelief, "Dude! Are they crazy?"

Robin only frowned for a second, before a realization hit him. Before anybody else could protest, Boy Wonder ran to the edge.

Terra's burst of power was enormous. The rift extended past the basement and downwards for what felt like miles into an indefinable darkness. The moment Robin's steel boot touched the edge of the crevice; Valentine's transdimensional bus burst upwards, just missing the Titan's nose by inches as the vehicle raced up into the air for a few seconds before disappearing altogether, Foundation faces laughing through the windows.

-

-

-

It was the dead of night and somewhere close to the birth of morning, and Terra grumbled into a cup of coffee as she sat in the Observatory's out of place couch, while her leader looked on indifferently. "Come on, Freeze. What use am I if you're not going to let me try?"

"Even if you share the same name as your… predecessor, it does not necessarily mean your level of ability is the same, Terra. You're body is still weak since your awakening. Whatever potential you might have, your body is not ready for it yet."

"Well, excuse me if I'm not satisfied with just making things pop out of the ground or shaking the earth a little."

"It will come in time."

Valentine just then decided to dump her upper body onto Terra's back from behind, shocking the latter while the former grinned, "Until then, wanna see what evil beast D' scrounged up?"

The three of them discussed the issue as they headed down the elevator to Devil Hand's part of Olympus, near the bottom.

"I still find it highly irregular that for all the things one could desire for a Wish, Devil Hand merely requested assistance acquiring a pet." Mr. Freeze breathed out in one fume of white.

"Don't be such a bureaucrat, Freezie!" Valentine elbowed, "Not everybody works with efficiency and cold-bloodedness!"

"How much trouble the world would be saved if it were."

Terra brushed the whole conversation off as she slammed a fist against the bolt metal door, "D'! You in there? We want to see the pet!"

A muffled, "Door's open!" came from the other side.

Devil Hand's room seemed something strangely akin to some person's college dorm. One without windows, but that was besides the point. A bunk bed was shoved into the corner of the room, the lower bed removed to make way for a built in desk and other peripherals. Posters were taped to the wall, drawers and other wood furniture taking up space as well. In fact, it looked disturbingly normal for a villain's lair, given Valentine's Factory and Mr. Freeze's Spartan icebox of a room that were only a figurative step down the hall.

The three found themselves facing D's back, as he sat on the ground cooing in a fairly frightening manner at whatever creature he obtained, obscured by the size of the pugilist's body.

Terra leaned forward slightly, inquisitive, "Well, what is it?"

Devil Hand swiveled around, raising up the peculiar beast up to the others' view, "Guys, say hello to LUCKY CLOVER!"

It was purple. It was some sort of purple… four-legged… minute _thing_, which managed to have its entire torso wrapped by Devil Hand's namesake appendages. Then again, D' was the oldest and largest of the three… still, this panting… bug-eyed, short-furred… PURPLE and white-stomached _thing_, which had some peculiar green shape on its hind flanks in the shape of a particular plant…

Valentine twitched, "What… is that?"

Mr. Freeze gave a cool look on the indifferently panting beast, "I believe it is usually referred to as the Chihuahua of the Canis genus."

"D' got a WHAT?"

"I got myself a Lucky Clover! Ain't the cutest thing ever?"

"Its eyes are bulging out and it's PURPLE!" Valentine countered vehemently. Terra wasn't so opposed to the dog though, as she crouched down to pet its head, which gave back an appreciative growl, "You have to admit, Val' it is kind of cute."

"What! How come everybody is calling me Val' now? I didn't give any one of you permission!"

"I still refer to you by your full name, Valentine."

"Yeah, well you're not everybody, Freezie."

Devil Hand raised stretched Lucky Clover to the Sorcerer, continuing to prod, "C'mon Val'! Just a pet! Just one stroke of the head!"

Valentine scrunched her face, but complied anyways. Mr. Freeze shortly thereafter found his entire organization crouching about the minute creature, gushing and awing at the cuteness of the bug-eyed critter.

"Disturbing."

Freeze decided that something had to be done about it.

Easily walking over to the trio, Freeze simply plucked up the dog by the scruff of its neck, holding it above everybody's complaining reach.

"Boss!"

"Freeze!"

"Oswald…"

"The three of you. Stop fawning over this creature immediately. If I were anybody else, I would find your display insulting to the Foundation-"

That was when Lucky Clover managed to twist its neck around to sink its small but very, very sharp teeth into the arm that unjustly gripped the dog's neck. Freeze gave a strange noise that emanated between his chest and neck to recognize his reaction to the attack and dropped the dog in shock, leaving the dog to skitter out of the room at full pelt.

"Boss! Look what you did! You scared Lucky Clover!"

The boy in blue narrowed his eyes while he rubbed his wound through his coat, "You dog has assaulted me. Some disciplinary measures will have to be enacted to ensure no further breaches will occur on your pet's part. But that will be saved for a latter time of this day, seeing I require my sleep. Dismissed for now."

Freeze spun about and marched out of D's room, much to the confusion of the others.

"We were in a meeting?" Terra muttered in confusion.

"That's ole Freezie for you." Valentine shrugged, before dashing after her old friend, "Freezie! You want someone to give you a kiss on the wittle' boo-boo…?"

Terra got up as well, stretching her back and arms, "Well, I guess I'm off as well. Be sure to find Clover, 'kay D'?"

"Ah, don't be worryin' 'bout him, Ter'. I've got a feeling, being found in a lab n' all, he's smarter than he looks. Who knows what else Lucky Clover can do?"

-

-

-

When everybody woke up in the deep-seated afternoon save their illustrious leader, Devil Hand proceeded to scour the entirety of the Olympus Height in search of his little doggie. One can never be too sure where a Chihuahua was capable of stuffing itself.

In fact the only place Devil Hand didn't check yet was Freeze's room, but that was a given anyways, since hardly anything other than the boy himself or anything in a super-duper parka could survive in the room.

"Oi, D'. You see Freezie anywhere? He's usually the first up, but I don't see him anywhere!" Valentine asked and mused to a momentarily defeated Devil Hand, who seated himself on the Observatory couch.

"I wouldn't know. I've been looking for Lucky Clover all day. You see my dog anywhere?"

"_Our_ dog, and no I haven't seen the Chihuahua anywhere."

"Well, that sure jiffs it, don't it?"

"D', you sure the checked everywhere?"

"Well, 'cept Boss' room. But nothing survives in there anyways, so there's no point looking."

"Why's there no point. For all you know, the dog might have accidentally slipped inside. Just because it's unlivable doesn't mean things don't get it."

"… AGH! DON'T WORRY LUCKY CLOVER! D'S COMING!"

Valentine was left to make her acquaintance with Devil Hand's dust. Seeing nothing better to do, Valentine followed after Devil Hand to Mr. Freeze's room.

_Might as well check up and see what's with Freezie, right? I don't think Freezie could be sick, right? He's always got a chill, right?_

As Lucky Clover's concerned owner slid to a halt in front of the sliding steel door, he could hear faint scratching of paws on the otherside.

"DON'T WORRY! D'S ALL HERE! NYYYARRGH!"

Slamming his flaming Left Hand into the steel door, the slab crumpled inward like so much aluminum. As the mechanism sailed across the room and smashed Freeze's furniture, a Chihuahua sat on the floor placidly.

"CLOVER! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!"

Devil Hand reached downwards to happily embrace the pet-

Valentine raised an eyebrow, "Wait a minute, where's Freezie? He's not here either-"

-And promptly received a good helping of chill on his arms, while the dog yelped out of his grasp, steaming in pain.

Devil Hand and Valentine's eyes bulged like a Chihuahua's.

Come to think of it… it was oddly familiar, what with the deep blue coat instead of purple, its deadpan gaze of blue, enough to stare your forehead through…

Devil Hand and Valentine leapt back, shrieking.

"AGH! FREEZIE TURNED INTO A CHIAPET!"

Terra stumbled into the screaming contest not long after, mumbling in half-sleep, "What's with all the screaming…?"

After she was informed, she joined the chorus as well.

Mr. Freeze the Chihuahua sneezed in disgust.

-

-

-

"The dog turned Mr. Freeze into a Chihuahua! Dude! It's like something out of really bad parody of a horror movie! A Poison Chihuahua!"

"This is your fault, D'! You turned Freezie into a dog!"

"How would I know Lucky Clover turned people into Chihuahuas by biting them?"

Terra interjected, reverting the shouting match back to the emergency meeting about the sofa, "Guys! This isn't the time right now! We should be thinking of a way to fix Freeze!"

The dog barked his agreement.

"Well, what do you suggest then, Achey-Breaky?"

"You're the supposed other co-founder of this team, that should make you the other leader, right?"

"I guess so… in any case, we might as well try and find Clover. I bet that mutt's got some way to cure Freezie."

"Hey, now don't be burnin' Lucky Clover just because he got superpowers like the rest of you."

"But what are we going to do with Freeze in the meantime, Valentine?"

"Ah, that's simple! Stick him in his freezer room 'til we get back! They way he is now, there's no way he could last a second outside, what with his without his jacket and cylinders."

Devil Hand tipped the brim of his hat upwards at the comment, noting his confusion, "What's so special about them stuff, Val'?"

"Is it something to do with his body temperature?" Terra also asked.

Valentine leaned conspiratorially close to the Freeze-dog, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she murmured, "Should I tell them Freezie?"

Arf.

"Well, I guess that's yes enough! Put simply, Freezie's got a really low temperature, and he's gotta stay that way or he'll just cook up and die! Luckily for him, he so happened to find me before he did, and I made him his snazzy jacket and made him all his special stuff!"

"Even the cylinders?"

"Even those! The jacket's made to preserve the cold in his body and keep out the heat. But even then, his internal body temperature has to be maintained. Of course, in normal cases, I bet the best you can do is stick his head in some fishbowl that's constantly being pumped some cold stuff. But for Freezie, he's just gotta smoke those tubes. It's made of solidified coolant I make. He just breathes in the icy fumes into his lungs, and he stays chilly on the inside."

D' hummed, "Never heard of a time when smoking actually keeps a person alive for longer."

"Yeah, well I figure Freezie's like an inside out person… or something."

"Well, I guess that means Freeze is going to have to stay here, then. But how are we going to find D's dog?" Terra asked.

"Yeah! I looked everywhere in the place, and I haven't seen Lucky Clover anywhere!" Devil Hand complained.

"Then the dog's outside!"

"What?"

"Observe." Valentine instructed as she reached for the television set, switching to the news channel.

_"And now for an update on the news headline, the mysterious outbreak of various civilians suddenly transforming into small dogs has seems to have halted since the initial reports, though no explanation has been given yet. Families are advised to stay indoors, while the local authorities investigate this mysterious situation."_

"Apparently, there's really nobody in the city who knows how to treat a Chihuahua properly."

"Dude! I have the most awesome dog in the world! He's already acting like a bad guy, and I didn't even have to train him!"

-

-

-

The bus lumbered about the corner, honking repeatedly to get the various Chihuahuas away from the street they were littering with their presence.

"See anything yet, D'? Terra?" Valentine called out behind her as she concentrated on driving.

The other two peered over the creatures, but nothing particularly stood out as purple. Blues, blacks, whites, and other shirt colors, but no purple.

"This is gonna take forever!" Valentine complained as she made her rounds across the street, "The dog could be anywhere!"

Devil Hand dove through the window in a triumphant shatter of glass, "LUCKY CLOVER! I FOUND YOU!"

The bus managed to slide to a halt, amidst Valentine's incessant neurotic twitches at the sight of the utterly smashed window on her bus. As the two girls exited their transport to follow Devil Hand, they found him nuzzling a purple Chihuahua, who seemed rather surprised.

"Lucky Clover! I bet you were all scared n' stuff while D' was all gone n' stuff! Don't worry! D's here!"

Terra frowned, "Are you sure that's the same dog? I mean it's purple, but…"

Devil Hand did a second take. It was purple. But it was also with a healthy dose of orange and some red about the head. And it's green-green eyes, whereas Devil Hand's pet was just a simpler dark eyed beauty.

"Well… it ain't my dog, but you have to admit… this fella's a little familiar…"

Devil Hand thus proceeded to catch a face full of laser beam, before the dog escaped by flying away.

Valentine's jaw dropped, while her finger rose, "Holy carp! That weird flying girl from those heroes got turned into a Chihuahua!"

Starfire-dog went 'arf' in a righteously furious way, and proceeded to unleash more eyeball lasers at the trio, who were too shocked to do anything more than escape to their bus, which was thankfully warded against concussive forces and extreme heat. Valentine planned ahead like that.

As the bus rocked from the force of an angry flying dog, the three inside yelped in total confusion.

"When the heck did those heroes get bit by your dog, D'?" Valentine yelled above the din of eyeball lasers hitting steel.

"I dunno! But that lass out there sure ain't happy to see us! I bet she thinks we were behind this whole Chihuahua thing!"

"Well, we kind of are, technically." Terra offered. Valentine choked.

"Wait! That means those guys are out to find Clover as well!"

"They can't take my dog! It's my dog!"

"_Our_ dog! And we need it to cure Freezie!"

"_Valentine! I should have known you and the others were behind this!"_ A particularly familiar Boy Wonder's voice accused from outside.

The sorcerer in question stuck her head out to look through a window, and saw the assembled Titans, "Well… yeah! But this wasn't in our itinerary! Honest! D' just wanted a pet-"

"Titans! Go!"

Valentine snarled as more forces impacted the bus, while she stumbled her way to the wheel, "This is stupid! D'! Terra, you find Clover yourself! I'm going to blow up the bridge!"

"Dude… we're inside the bus!"

"Don't question me! Obey the Queen! Menvius, Trasium, Paral, Duex!"

And so Devil Hand and Terra suddenly found themselves outside the bus, watching the Teen Titans chase the bus that was speeding away down the road into the distance.

"You don't think she'll actually blow up the bridge, D'?" Terra asked. The brawler just shrugged.

"Well, she's just acting as distraction, but I don't think that'll actually stop her from going out with it."

"Well, come on. Let's look for your dog, D'."

A sudden screech of reversing tires caught their attention. Heading back down the road was Robin on his little bike, a green hawk on his tail. Apparently Valentine's feint wasn't completely successful.

"Terra! Split! I'll meet you back home!" Devil Hand shouted quickly to his remaining party, before hurling a shockwave of amber at the R-Cycle, forcing its riding to leap away before the vehicle exploded.

_If there's any luck, that'll have the kid go after me. I'd hate to see him go crazy on Ter'._

Having entrusted his teammate to herself, Devil Hand raced down the streets, keeping an eye on the Chihuahuas, Robin close behind. The chase ran them into a familiar part of Jump City's China Town.

A familiar bark caught D's attention as he slid to a stop. Amidst the confused creatures everywhere, a particular purple one was scampering towards him, recognizing his master that he accidentally abandoned in his haste to escape.

"Lucky CLOVER! You're alive!"

As the Chihuahua leapt into Devil Hand's arms, the two shared a tender embrace.

"Don't worry, Lucky Clover! I'll never leave you again! And my mean boss will never do that to you, ever!"

Of course, Devil Hand had to cut his touching moment short when an array of birdarangs clove their way into the building wall beside him. The startled pugilist shrieked for a second before running off, dog in his arms. An amazing bound had Devil Hand landing onto one of the low tile roofs of China Town, where he kept on running. Out of nowhere, though, Robin leapt out and blindsided him across the roofs. Managing to cushion his precious pet, Devil Hand managed to roll into a slide into a halt, where he put the dog down.

"Lucky Clover? Sit… _Stay."_

The purple Chihuahua barked his compliance.

_Man! I got the coolest dog in the world! I didn't even have to train 'im!_

"Devil Hand! What are you guys planning?" Robin shouted with a shaking fist.

"Er… plan?"

"Don't play stupid! You ransack the lab last night, and then this! What are you planning to do with that dog?"

"_My _dog! And we ain't planning anything particularly. It was an accident, all of it, I swear!"

"Really."

For some reason, Devil Hand was getting vibes that Boy Wonder didn't believe him.

"Look man, can I just take Lucky Clover home, and we'll be leaving you alone? We ain't planning anything!"

"The dog isn't going anywhere with you."

"Yeah, great minds think alike, right? Wantin' to cure the city and stuff? Or is it the little flying lady on your team? You have to admit, she looks pretty cute as a Chihuahua-"

A flying, roaring, sidekick took Devil Hand down and across the tiled roof.

"Dude! That was a compliment to the little lady… and we're really going to get into a fight, huh?" Devil Hand coughed and drawled as he got to his feet again, arms raised.

"Well, it's only fair I warn you, I've trained with the best." Robin declared, falling into a stance of his own.

"Yeah, well then it's fair to say I AM the best."

With that, Devil Hand charged forwards, his arms outstretched on either side of him with clawed fingers. Before Robin could react, D' was already in front of him with two quick strikes to the chest, knocking him back. Robin managed to block the next kick, but as soon as the move connected false, the fore limb instantly jerked away and smashed downwards powerfully into the tiles below the two of them, kicking up ceramic that forced the Titans to cover his face, lest he catch the sharp pottery in the face. Thus, Robin was completely unprepared for the flaming roundhouse that tossed him away from Devil Hand and onto his back.

As Robin leapt back to his feet, he found the red figure not his own, racing down the roofs again, purple dog in hand. Boy Wonder was in pursuit immediately.

The roofs started coming to an end, as the district bordered along the train tracks that helped the public transport across the city. That didn't stop either of them. Devil Hand in particular gave a loud whoop as he flew off the roofs onto a nearby passing train, rolling to halt as he raced across the city.

Robin landed soon after.

"Not much for calling it a day, huh?" Devil Hand called over the din of rushing wind.

"Not until I put you guys where you belong!"

Calling for Lucky Clover to sit…_ stay_, again. Devil Hand uneasily marched across the moving cars towards Robin.

"Come on man, can't you take a break. You're only what… fifteen or something? Sheesh, you ain't even out of high-school and your acting like a crotchety old fogey! And I'm even older than you, and I'm still fine!"

Robin lashed out with a foot, letting Devil Hand step away quickly, letting his hands deflect and parry Robin's furious techniques. A sudden thrust of a palm had Robin slipping backwards across the train car, creating more room between them.

"C'mon, man! Live a little! Ain't this sorta thing called unhealthy stress? You ain't gonna be having making's of Alexander if you keep stressin', and if you ain't Alexander, you ain't gonna win."

"You're not going to win, Devil Hand."

The two met again, fists and legs and staffs and God Hands.

Robin's sudden switch to tumbling maneuvers and an emphasis on agility to counteract the train's sudden movements piqued Devil Hand's interest.

"Hey-"

Devil Hand ducked under a tumbling donkey kick.

"-Ain't that Monkey style from that batty old chicky up in China or somethin'?"

This seemed to shock Robin, "How did you get her to train someone like her?"

"Me train under her? I trained _her_ when she was spry little thing!"

"What are you talking about!"

"Yeah, sad ain't it! You're an old kid, and I'm a young ol' God Hand. Your Monkey needs a bit of work, too."

Devil Hand proved his point by toppling Robin's strategic tumbling with a single axe kick. As the Titan crashed onto his knees, he found his Foundation opponent above him with a knowing look, his left arm glowing.

"Second match, set-"

Before Devil Hand could make his second point he took a laser beam and a sonic wave to the chest, knocking him back with a surprised single syllable.

"Game's far from over, Devil Hand." Cyborg simply put it, Raven and Starfire-Chihuahua having also landed on the top of the train.

"Dude! Wasn't Val' supposed to be running interference."

"She did. For about five seconds."

"Dyagh! Again, our match is postponed, kiddo. Next time we meet, I'll make sure to make my victory official enough. Lucky Clover, here boy!"

Robin lunged for the dog, but the Chihuahua easily leapt through the air and into his master's arms, who tried to back away further down the train, but only got a few feet further to the front of the train.

As Devil Hand was about to grate his teeth for getting stuck in this situation, Valentine's bus decided to make itself known in space and time by appearing sideways on the tracks in front of the train, letting the high-speed vehicle push the smaller public transport forward in a malicious screeching noise.

Valentine and Terra stuck their heads through the windows.

"Get on!"

"Dude! They said you ran interference for only five seconds!"

"We'll talk about the nuances of making bomb threats while having none later! Get on!"

Thus D' dived through another and shattered a second window, much to Valentine's barely contained murderous chagrin, and by some miracle managed to drive off the train tracks and disappear before the Titans could react or smash into the ground below.

-

-

-

Valentine snarked. In fact everyone did.

Mr. Freeze looked on blandly, "I do apologize for the trouble I put you through earlier-"

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CURED UNTIL I SAY SO!"

"My apologies again, Valentine, though I doubt my reversion of my previous, temporary condition is a matter of conscious decision."

"It doesn't have to! Just get bit by the dog again!"

"No."

Devil Hand pondered, "Wait, ain't that meaning that the rest of the city's all back to normal?"

"Most likely."

"We went out on a wild goose chase…" Terra whined.

"The majority of the world's endeavors consist of the chasing of geese, unfortunately. Devil Hand."

"Yes'm, Boss?"

"You're dog still need to be disciplined."

"Oh come on!"

Thereafter, as Devil Hand went through the process of setting up and caring after his dog's toiletries, he realized there were some things he could have done without by having no pet.

-

-

-

**Episode 8: "A Christmas Carol For Mr. Freeze" – Winter has arrived in Jump City, and while there is a marked lack of snow, the festivities are still abounding in the air. Except for the Foundation, where their tyrannical Ebenezer leader is quite against such foolishness as good cheer and holidays. Even villains need Christmas. Can the other Foundation members help convince Freeze celebrate the holiday spirit?**


	8. A Christmas Carol For Mr Freeze

"What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere! What's this? There's white things in the air! What's this? I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming, wake up Val' this isn't fair! What's this?"

Valentine caroled to her song in front of the largest Christmas tree on display in Jump City, while people ran about and away in fear at the sight of her newest and largest models to come out of her Factory, the Steam Boys. Hulking devices the size of mythic ogres, the body composed of a green steel shell that terminated in a metal air-vent that served as a non-face for the creature, while gray stringy muscular limbs poked out of the sides of the steel shell, themselves ending in metal gauntlets and greaves. Three of the gargantuan artificial zombies, large axes strapped to their backs, all hunkered about the Christmas tree, attempting to pull the trunk right out of the stand.

"Dude, Val'. Your big guys have axes. Why not just cut it down?" Devil Hand turned to his companion in question as they all stood guard.

"Cause that'll damage our Christmas tree, you idiot! You should treat trees with respect, you know. They're the main reason why there's still oxygen in the world!"

"Be nice to the trees? What about people?"

"They're a detrimental effect to the world wide eco-system. They should be pleased I help recycle them, then leave them in stuffy boxes that can't be decomposed!" Valentine harrumphed with crossed arms.

That effectively ended the discussion, as D' found himself quickly backing away from pouting child. She was seriously too weird sometimes.

Terra, guarding the side opposite of Valentine pondered their latest mischief, "This is a weird way to celebrate Christmas…"

"Ha! Public trees! Today's society is too indulgent! Wasting billions on getting large trees, just so it'll be wasted by the indifference of the masses! It should be better used to the few who care, rather than the many who don't!" Valentine lectured, before turning to Mr. Freeze who sat cross-legged and hunched atop the bus that was parked nearby the quartet, "Right Freezie?"

Freeze simply looked back with apparently, some form of diluted variant of a scathing look before twisting around to keep guard.

"Agh! Don't tell me you still hate Christmas, Freezie!"

"I find it an inefficient waste of time."

"Mou! What else would the Japanese say… Mak-taku…"

Mr. Freeze suddenly shot out his arms, lighter opening up a barrier of blue flame that protected him from a short barrage of star-bolts, steam spilling everywhere.

"Looks like your going to have to cancel your Christmas shopping plans." Robin remarked as the Titans came to save the Christmas spirit for the masses.

"Aw, it ain't that bad," Devil Hand shot back, rubbing his bare left arm, "After all, we got each other, right? Ain't that what Christmas is all about, spending time with people you care about?"

-

-

-

**A Christmas Carol For Mr. Freeze**

-

-

-

"Titans, go!"

"Steam Boys! Direct pressure to 25 Percent! Move it!"

Valentine leapt onto the hull of one of her creations, while the vents of the Steam Boys erupted in a giant bellow of smog, the sounds of an engine rumbling their bodies as they lumbered behind the other Foundation members with large axes in hand.

Terra was first to attack, goggles on while she threw her arms out towards the heroes. Following her, the pavement between the two groups rushed towards the Titans in an oncoming tidal wave of shattered and sharp concrete, making them dive out of the way.

Mr. Freeze from atop the bus, slashed out into the air with his lighter, his other hand clawed in silent commands to the ice fire in the air. In moments, the miasmic frost solidified into blue blades suspended in the air, where gravity sent them downwards, threatening to impale the Titans who continued to dodge. Before they knew it, the supposedly slow Steam Boys were already among them, clumsily slamming their mighty blades down on ground about the crumbled battlefield.

Cyborg could already see where this was going, "Robin! They're trying to split us up again!"

"I know!" Robin shouted back as he narrowly sidestepped another axe blow and retaliated with several spherical grenades into the Steam Boy's 'face', "Titans-"

Before the team leader could say anything else, though, Devil Hand was already flipping into the battlefield and delivering a drop kick into Robin's chest. As the two slid to a halt, D' waved his greeting.

"Evenin', kiddo. Got appointed as Leader Distraction, so better keep on your toes and not on your mouth!"

With that, Devil Hand slashed downwards, releasing a surge of orange power to do as his job appointed.

Somewhere else, Mr. Freeze atop his vehicular throne continued to blast at Starfire, who flipped away through the air away from every burst.

"You! Why must you persist in attacking me in particular?" The princess earnestly asked in worried curiosity, eeping away from another flaming salvo as she returned with starbolts of her own.

"Your very existence is an irritation to me. It would do me a great favor if you stayed still long enough for me to end your frivolous being."

Starfire's eyes glowed with a rage, "Well, I apologize then but as you say, I cannot comply!"

With a shout, she hurled more of her solar powered blasts downward, forcing Freeze to leap off the quickly decimating bus.

At the other side of the battlefield, a bird of particular verdant hue fluttered away breathlessly about the stony spires that erupted from the ground, hoping to slam into him, while Terra wordlessly continued to keep her eyes narrowed in focus, and her hands glowing in attack.

The moment there was a pause in the attacks, Beast Boy flipped back to the ground into his human form, a move that genuinely confused the geokinetic, given they were in a middle of a fight.

"C'mon, Terra! Can't we just talk?" The shape-shifter pleaded to Terra (in, much to her annoyance, what would become a damnably annoying and recurring event that found its way in all her future skirmishes).

There was an awkward silence, as Terra simply shook her head in belief with a raised eyebrow and snorted a disdainful, "No. Are you an idiot or something?"

Beast Boy could only sheepishly chuckle, "Well, you know. It never hurts to keep trying-agh!"

A surprised green octopus managed to stretch itself across a large fissure that Terra threw underneath his feet.

As for Cyborg, he wrestled with one of the Steam Boys, barely managing to stop the gigantic axe from splitting him down the middle as he caught the blades in his hands, servos and musculature whining and stretching in effort while the zombie ogre continued to press downwards with its immense size.

Suddenly Valentine had flipped onto the giant axe and was straddling the backside of the large weapon, legs dangling off either side of the handle and head propped primly on folded hands as she craned her Cheshire smile towards Cyborg's annoyed visage.

"Hallo, my Shin-Getter friend! How're you doing this fine Christ-Mass?"

"Girl… why can't you just celebrate Christmas like a normal person?" The man-machine retorted with much effort.

"Normal? Ha! Excuse me, but you're not exactly the representative voice of the average-wage, white-collar, middle-class, married with two children at age of thirty-five masses yourself!"

Cyborg stared in disbelief at the statement of normality, before being brought to more pressing situations at hand, like making sure he didn't get cleaved in two. With both hands used up, he could only watch helplessly as Valentine rose up and brought her tome to her to summon a nasty spell at the incapacitated Cyborg.

"Uh… some help here, guys?"

A surge of black energy threw the Foundation Sorcerer off the axe, leaving her tumbling for control atop her floating spell book.

Raven floated by with a sardonic, "Don't mention it."

"Yeah? And about this big guy here?"

"It's been warded against my magic. I can't move it. Sorry, Cyborg."

Valentine cut in just then, reciting as she stood upon her floating book, "Come on, Rae-chan! I'm burning through the sky, two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit! Firnium, Etoil, Cal'cier, Kierbi!"

With that, Raven was forced away from her mechanical comrade as Valentine raced after her as a living, flaming comet.

That still left the Steam Boy for Cyborg to handle, unfortunately. With a terrific yell, Cyborg managed to lift the axe blade higher up, leaving him time to quickly shift his right arm into the sonic cannon that was now pressed against the axe. In a brilliant flash, the Steam Boy backed away clumsily in an attempted show of surprise as it lifted a smoking handle, sans most of the threatening edge that was supposed to adorn it. In moments, Cyborg was giving a hearty war cry as charged towards the vent-faced monstrosity and slamming the cannon end into its green body. A second blast had the Steam Boy toppling backwards from the point blank blast, a smoking hole carved through its steel stomach.

Seeing Robin being double-teamed by Devil Hand and another of the Steam Boys, the Titan raced in to help in the same manner in which he finished off his opponent.

In moments, it was five on four again. D' was first to be pushed back, as Robin and Cyborg rushed in on him with a second wind, leaving the brawler on the defense as he defended against the two.

"Cyborg! Sonic Boom!"

"Gotcha!"

That stopped Devil Hand as he scrunched up his face in confusion, "Say what?"

Instead of a verbal answer, Devil Hand watched Robin throw one of his explosives right into the path of Cyborg's blasts, creating a sonic-amplified blast. Though, D' tried to defend at last minute, all that happened instead was that he was thrown through the air in surprise, his aerial journey cut short as he smashed into the remains of the bus nearby.

Raven continued to race through the sky with the Valentine's comet hot on her tail, and despite all the hurled magic or objects at the sorcerer, it all melted off against the immense magic heat.

_I need something to cool her down._

Raven, having a taste for irony, knew exactly who to go to for that.

Down below, Mr. Freeze skated after Starfire, the two continuing to trade shots. Unfortunately, the Tameranian was not careful in making sure where she was going as she flew backwards to retaliate with starbolts. As such, Starfire soon found her back slamming against the side of the building, distracting her as she looked back to see what she exactly had hit her back against. Freeze, sensing an opportunity, quickly dropped onto his back as his momentum slid him forward. As the last starbolts flew over his head, the boy in blue shot his arm outward, a surge of flame slamming into Starfire and pinning her to the wall as a thick layer of white ice, the layer pressing her head backwards and upwards, forcing her to look upwards and away from Freeze.

The momentarily triumphant Freeze brought another cylinder to his mouth to light, before a hand motion caused a circle of ice to fall away from the trapped Starfire, exposing her chest. Another arm movement with his lighter caused to flame to wrap about his weapon and limb, until it all hardened into a rudimentary blade that consumed his forelimb.

With that, Freeze charged forwards, the tip of his icy weapon aimed at the alien's chest.

Raven suddenly flew between them, disappearing into the ground in a flash of black.

"FREEZIE! LOOK OUT!"

Instead of Starfire's chest, Freeze's thrust was interrupted in mid-swing as he stabbed instead into an out of control comet racing downwards after Raven.

The two extreme temperatures collided, along with the magic imbued in the flames. The explosion was tremendous to say the least.

As the smoke cleared, Valentine was found head first into the pavement, her legs sticking into the air almost comically before the body dropped back to the ground.

For Mr. Freeze, as he picked himself mechanically off the rough ground he heard a cry, and turned around into a flying tackle, a flurry and red hair and glowing green and burning orange flesh as Starfire tackled him to the ground, the force enough to knock his lighter out of hand.

"What do you want from me?"

Mr. Freeze kept his listless gaze straight even as he was pinned down."

"Answer me!"

"It is the same answer as all the others in the previous engagements between our parties. I find you exemplary proof of where weakness is derived. A creature whose powers come and go based on emotional stimuli can only be the definition of utter powerlessness. Though I admit that your entire member roster in general is quite unprofessional-"

"That's not true!"

"I look at facts as they are. You are the weakest out of your agency."

"I have still defeated you." The princess shot back.

"Another day, perhaps. Valentine."

The aforementioned struggled to her knees, groaning, "Can we discuss this when my head doesn't hurt?"

"No. Escape route, please."

"Yeah, yeah… Celci…"

Valentine mumbled the rest of her spell out, causing her body to slowly sink into the solid concrete. Devil Hand, slumped in an elsewhere dreamland gave no protest, unlike Terra, who found her ankles going through the liquid ground against her will.

"What the heck?"

"Do not mind it, Terra. It is merely Valentine." Freeze murmured as his head began to sink through the ground. Starfire's own hands, strong as they were, could not keep the grip on the jacket as they continued to obey the laws of physics. In the end, she was just left on her knees in the shattered square that still held the biggest Christmas tree in Jump City.

-

-

-

Things were slow on the Eve of the greatest morning in the world, as Foundation members patched up from their little foray into Christmas shopping. Out of all of them, Terra was practically untouched, until the Titan's resident magician went ballistic on her.

Still, nothing that a cup of eggnog, or hot chocolate, or anything really couldn't solve.

Terra and Devil Hand sat in front of the Servant of the God of Time who herself was on a coffee table.

"So, the demon says to the two hitchhikers, 'play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your souls'! Well, it seemed pretty surefire way to damn some guys, you know? Armed with only an acoustic guitar? Unfortunately, my buddy Axel didn't take into account that every thousand years or so, fate and her little handmaidens come down to grant random schmucks the honor of playing literally, the greatest song in the world, even if they forget exactly how it goes right after, and it happened to be that night. True story."

It was now a rather open secret in the Foundation that every night Valentine went to bed, her soul traveled to the Underworld to do he master's bidding. Thus, she related some very interesting stories.

"What happened?" Terra asked.

"Well, Axel took some pretty bad hits from the Song. I mean, he's a demon musician, you know. Even has an amplifier that goes all the way to eleven! So when he was forcibly exorcised back to the Underworld just because two hitchhikers and an acoustic guitar played better than him… well, it's a good thing he promised to do anything for me, so long as I don't tell any other demon about this story. Anyways, that's why I can blackmail Axel to do basically anything for me! I also happen to have gotten a copy of the song that's a tribute to the greatest song from Axel as well, and apparently that's also a pretty good anti-demon weapon."

Devil Hand balked, "That… is weird."

"Welcome to the universe, D'!"

It was about then that Freeze interrupted the happy gathering with a big fat-

"Valentine, I need you to go to your Factory and begin production. We will be leading an assault tomorrow."

That got everyone complaining.

"Boss! It's Christmas tomorrow!"

"Come on, Freeze, it's the holidays!"

"Freezie! We need to chill a bit!"

"Christmas, holidays, and this 'chilling' are pitiful excuses to waste time on slothful activities when we could be completing necessary projects. The security at STAR labs will be more lax about this time, and I will not pass up this opportunity for new equipment."

"Freezie! It's Christmas! Everybody takes a break! Even the other bad guys have to take it easy some time!"

"It is their foolishness then, considering we are about to outdo them. I want you all rested up and ready at zero-five hundred. I will be in my facilities, recuperating."

Devil Hand raised an eyebrow at the word choice, "Don't you mean sleeping?"

"_Recuperate_, Devil Hand. I do not sleep."

Mr. Freeze abruptly twisted about on his heels and walked off to the elevator.

Valentine stuck out her tongue at the disappearing form, "Why does he always have to be such a killjoy whenever it comes to holidays? I swear, every time we had something fun, I waste so much effort just dragging him into it as well! Bureaucrat."

"Geez, and I was hoping we could at least have one day off!" Terra fumed. Devil Hand joined in with their sighs.

"Yeah man! I was wanting to have a Christmas dinner and everything! I mean, we did go knockin' over that supermarket on the way to the tree, right?"

Valentine crossed her arms in thought, "If there was only something we could do to make Freezie give us Christmas…"

"You mean, how do we get the Christmas spirit into Freeze." Terra translated and corrected.

"Wait… Achey Breaky, what was that story about that other Freezie-like guy? He was some old fogey who didn't like Christmas either."

"A Christmas Carol?"

"If that's what it's called."

Devil Hand already had a good idea of what Val' was about to say, and with disbelief, "Dude, Val' are you planning to re-enact Christmas Carol on Boss?"

"Well it worked in the book! Do either of you have a better idea?" The sorcerer vehemently argued.

"Petition?" Terra suggested.

"I tried that once. It didn't work. Seriously, when you have to convince Freezie of anything, you usually have to do an over-the-top presentation."

"Still, Val'… this plan is kinda… messed up."

"Well, I don't care! This is our best shot at convincing Freezie about letting us celebrate Christmas! We're going to have to put up a really great show for him. He's not easily convinced."

"Just one problem."

"What is it, Achey Breaky?"

"There are only three of us. We at need at least one other person to be the Marley."

"Hmmm…"

"Dude, we don't exactly look the part of some Christmas spooks either, Val'."

"Got it!" Valentine cheered, snapping her fingers. Her two partners-in-crime flinched, half-expecting a ghoul of some sort to drop out of the sky, "Isn't there some old guy in the prison? That British guy who works with elaborate illusions and stuff?"

Devil Hand visibly recalled him with a shiver, "Man, that guy was creepy when we did that job with him. He kept calling all of us a duck for some reason…"

"And you're going to get him in on this thing?" Terra muttered.

"Come on! Breaking into a prison! It'll be fun!"

-

-

-

It was Christmas Eve, and Mad Mod was quite reserved to enjoy a disgruntled and quiet evening in his cell, after all, he was an old man, and he needed his rest.

Of course, he didn't take into account of chains being wrapped about the bars of his window, before a roar and a crash brought it down, courtesy of the bus outside. Jumping to his feet, the aged man looked on in disbelief as a figure coughed and waved away the dust amidst the sounding alarms.

"Hallo! Is this Mad Mod?" A discordant tinkling of a girl's voice called out.

"What's it to you, luv? Can't an old man have his little rest for once, without whatnot exploding everywhere!"

"That's not important! You'll be playing the role of Marley in our production. So come along and grab your special effects along the way?"

The succinct introduction had Moddie grasping for words, but in the end, complied, since anywhere was better than prison.

-

-

-

Mr. Freeze was quite settled on his bed, staring ever upwards into the darkness of his cold room. It was nigh about exactly twelve at night when he heard something groan into his room.

_"Mr. Freeeeeeze…"_

At that, the boy was sitting up, aiming his lighter in self-defense and finding nothing to aim it at.

_"Frreeeeeze!"_

"Who is speaking?"

What revealed itself to Freeze was some horrifying apparition that melted through the doors, groaning in British and carrying heavy steel chains that connected by safes, cash registers, and other unwholesome heavy objects.

Normal people would have screamed in fear at the sight of phantoms. Mr. Freeze did not believe in phantoms. After all, souls weren't apparently part of the visible spectrum, so nothing should change, even in death.

At any rate, "Mad Mod. What are you doing here?"

The Mad Mod hologram gave some more over-the-top groans, "_Look at me, Mr. Freeze! I have been granted permission from the land of the dead to give you this warning!"_

"Impossible. You are not deceased. I would have heard some rumor of it."

_"Well, you never know what happens to an old man in his ailing health, my duckie!"_

"I see. What is this warning of which you speak of?"

_"Well… ah-hem… look at these chains, Mr. Freeze! This is my punishment for years of selfishness and greed! But I can see the same wrapping about your very being! Your lack of gratitude, and spirit, of your selfishness! Pray you turn about in your ways, and redeem yourself, or you shall suffer a worse fate than mine!"_

Mr. Freeze gave this some thought, before deciding:

"Did Valentine and the others put you up to this?"

_"What- Of course not! I am DEAD… really!"_

"This sounds like re-enactment of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens."

_"It is not! I am a ghost!"_

"You are alive, and I am speaking to a hologram."

_"…stuff and nonsense, my duckie! Hear me, hear me! For this very night, you shall be visited by three spirits-"_

"Consisting of Terra, Devil Hand, and Valentine, in that order, am I correct?"

_"…How did you know that!"_

"Once you realize that Valentine is the originator of this plot, it becomes quite easy to draw some reasonable conclusions. First, Terra is female, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, which matches the description of the Ghost of Christmas Past, which makes her casting inevitable. Valentine, who thoroughly enjoys playing the roles of foreboding and macabre characters, will no doubt elect herself to play as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. Devil Hand, with the other roles already taken up, is left with the role of Ghost of Christmas Present."

_"Well… they may look like your friends, but they most assuredly are actually spirits!"_

"Of course. Thank you for your warning, Mad Mod. You are free to leave."

_"Oi! I can leave where and whenever I want, without your permission!"_

"Excuse me."

Silence. The hologram coughed.

_"Well… er…be a good boy then! Merry Christmas!"_

And Mr. Freeze was left alone again, leaving him to sit the entire hour till one o' clock. Then the second hologram appeared, clad in a white gown.

"Terra."

_"It is not. I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."_

"You are most assuredly Terra, and I am speaking to a hologram. Though, I must admit, the real time technology is quite remarkable."

The Ghost of Christmas Past scrunched up her face in annoyance.

_"Look! I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past, alright? Take it or leave it!"_

"At any rate, you wish to speak of me of something?"

"_I've come to let you see your past."_

"Forgive me, Terra, but my past is not terribly interesting, nor traumatic. The boy you look at now considers his life started when he was found dying the desert, and subsequently found by Valentine."

_"What about before that? How did you get into the desert in the first place?"_

"That history belongs to Oswald Friece, my predecessor, much like how the previous Terra is yours. He died in the desert, and is no longer relevant."

_"And you never gave the holidays a chance…?"_

"Holidays are a pointless exercise in superficiality, an excuse for people to waste their lives and resources on being more ridiculously emotional than they already are."

Typical Mr. Freeze response. The Ghost of Christmas Past grasped for words.

"_Well… some people…treat Christmas…with reverence._"

"Of course. At any rate, it's one- forty five. Devil Hand is due in another fifteen minutes, I think it would be best for you to leave if you are truly following in line with A Christmas Carol."

_"Really! Carp! Well, I'll see you later then!"_

With that, the Ghost of Christmas Past took her leave, allowing Mr. Freeze about fifteen minutes worth of breathing space till Devil Hand, for some reason, decided to knock on the door to Freeze's room.

"It would be best if you put on one of the heavy jackets outside, Devil Hand."

A figure in sunglasses and bundled in the aforementioned entered Freeze's domain, "That's Christmas Present Ghost to you, Boss!"

"Most apparitions are immune to the effects of extreme temperatures, Devil Hand."

"Yeah, well… I'm not! Now follow me, Boss! We're going to the Observatory!"

"What for?"

"To see how the people are doing during this Christmas!"

Mr. Freeze gave a sort of blank stare that implied irritation, but humored his subordinate spirit and followed him out of his room, lighting a cylinder to prepare himself.

As the two entered the observatory, Mr. Freeze noted the inordinate amount of food that was scattered about the floor and tables. Turkey, fruits, candy, chocolate, punch, eggnog, chocolate milk, soda, ham, frozen pizza, ice cream, instant noodles…

"I see that our raid on the supermarket earlier this night has not gone to waste, Devil Hand."

"What are you talking about? I conjured this all up! I can do that as a ghost, you know!"

"Undoubtedly, Devil Hand."

"That's Christmas Present Ghost!"

"Excuse me."

"Now sit here!" The Ghost commanded Freeze, patting the chair that sat in front of the giant telescope. Freeze did as he was told, and keyed in a prompts on a nearby dashboard to activate the giant harness for the telescope, platform rising so that the lens began to shift downwards towards the city.

"What am I supposed to be looking at, Devil Hand?"

"Dun worry 'bout it! I'll key in the instructions on the computer so all you have to do is look… got it writ down somewhere…"

Leaving that to D', Freeze peered through the scope.

"So Boss, what do you see?"

The powerful lens allowed Freeze's vision to stretch across the city and into the window of a particular housing.

"A lower class family having a midnight celebration inside their apartment."

"Yeah! Think of it Boss! Buncha poor guys, and they're still celebrating Christmas, right? They may suck, but at least they're happy."

"That is because they are bound by a wage and shift system. Most likely their employer has forced this holiday upon them, regardless of their financial situation. Still, I am curious. If this is your take on the Cratchit family, who would be the equivalent of Tiny Tim?"

"Dunno, Boss."

As if on command, Freeze watched from far away as a red-headed form not much older than himself seat herself by the window, staring into what he supposed was the night sky.

Still, it was a rather hard to believe that, as Freeze watched his forehead being stared through by the girl's wide gaze.

_Disturbing._

Freeze quickly moved his head out of the way of the telescopic sight, "Do you have anyone in particular you wish for me to look at?"

"Well… gee, darn it my time's nearly up."

"I see. Valentine must be anxious. I'll be returning to my room. Clean up this mess, Devil Hand."

"Yes sir, Boss!" The Christmas Present Ghost saluted to his exiting employer.

And Mr. Freeze found himself sitting in his room again, when the time struck two, and a giant flooding cloak of death poured itself magically into Freeze's chamber, completely unaffected by the cold.

"**FREEZIE! I HAVE COMETH FOR YOUR SOUL! SUFFER AND DESPAIR AT THE POWER OF THE GHOST OF CHRIST-MASS YET TO COME!"**

"Valentine, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come was incapable of speech."

"**Oh- Shut up Freezie! I can take creative liberties, you know! AND I AM THE GHOST OF CHRIST-MASS YET TO COME! SO I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!"**

"By all means, lead on and show me how I will end up dying alone and unwanted."

**"Fine! Follow me! You have to check out the graveyard I made!"**

So Freeze idly followed after a cloaked wraith, that took them down, rather than up. The two found themselves at the lobby at the bottom of the mountain, which had been converted into some sort of theatrical presentation of a graveyard covered in snow, lichen and dark evergreens everywhere. In the center of the rows of plaster-Paris tombstones stood Devil Hand and Terra, back in their usual clothes.

"Wow, who would have ever thought that he would die all alone, and without friends?" Devil Hand first recited.

"I should have guessed it though. That man never gave anyone a break! He didn't even let us celebrate Easter, or Halloween, or anything!"

"Yeah, dude. Halloween isn't even a holiday!"

"To think, his utter…" Terra seemed to frown at the script in her mind, "… Bureaucracy would be the thing that made everybody shy away from him, leaving him a cold and alone!"

"Dude… Ter'… he always was cold."

The script seemed to call for the two of them to laugh at some inside joke, which they did, though very poorly.

"So, Ter', you wanna go get a pizza or anything? Not like we care about him or his life, right?"

"Sure!"

With that, Terra and Devil Hand raced past the Ghost and Freeze and traveled up the elevator.

"I must admit, you've outdone yourself this time, Valentine. The cost for this production must be staggering."

**"Oh bother! That is you dead there!"**

"Yes. Apparently I have died all alone and unwanted, as per the book's tradition."

**"Yeah! And I do hope you don't want to die all alone and stuff like that! It sucks!"**

"The nature of my death is not a priority issue, since I assume it will be quite far into my latter years. When the time comes, I shall address the nature of my death. Until then… public opinion… does not… matter." Freeze cautioned out, testing the words if they were really what they thought."

"**Yeah, well tonight's your last chance to see the wrongs of your way, Freezie! So you better clean up your act! You're the leader now! You're the example of what to follow, and not all of us take kindly to the perfect method. We still have a soul, you know!"**

"Noted." Freeze said duly, "In the mean time, our meeting is over. We shall re-adjourn in the morning."

-

-

-

And at five in the morning, a scant three hours after the mess of a Christmas Carol presentation the Foundation members pulled of, Terra, Valentine, and Devil Hand all sat about the coffee table, dead beat and tired.

The coffee wasn't helping their spirits either. It was the best morning in the world, and none of them would be having the time to enjoy it since they would be busy attacking a fargin' lab.

"I thought it would work…" Valentine groaned into her coffee, "I thought we were all good actors…"

"Actors?" Terra grumbled, eyes darkened with sleep depravation, "He figured it out since Mad Mod!"

"Dude… this sucks… I want to celebrate Christmas." Devil Hand muttered mournfully, slumping.

"Good Morning, fellow members." Mr. Freeze's voice interjected. Valentine's pale head inched her way over the top of the sofa she was on to look back at the team leader.

"I suppose we're off to hit that lab, Freezie?"

"No."

Devil Hand and Terra stuck their heads up in surprise alongside Valentine's.

"For you to put in so much effort to try and convince me to rescind my previous orders must mean this Christmas is quite valuable to you. Perhaps I have been too callous in my treatment. At any rate, I have taken your suggestions into consideration, and have authorized your request."

Mr. Freeze pulled down his hood, revealing a familiar red and white furred cap, topped by a pompom atop his head.

"I wish my Foundation season's greeting."

Freeze was immediately assaulted on all sides by his affectionate teammates.

"Freezie! You do care!"

"Merry Christmas, Boss!"

"Thanks, Freeze! You're the best!"

"Enough of that, I still have plans to snow in the city. It is winter in Jump City, after all."

And all was right in the best morning in the world on Olympus Height.

-

-

-

**Episode 9: "Good Deeds"- Sometimes the best way to look after your assets is to do well upon others. As the Foundation watches over their territory with as strangely benevolently malevolent hand, people ask, is one good deed enough to make one a hero?**


	9. Good Deeds

A/N: On a completely related note, when should I begin the first character arc? Like in the TV series (Nearly, poor Starfire…), each character kicks out with a major arc at the end of every season that concentrates on each character. I don't have seasons, but I do have four planned character arcs, but since this story is so episodic, it's not even funny, when in how many chapters, do _you_ think the first arc should begin?

-

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-

The wire cutters affixed themselves about the metal links of the chain that held the sliding fence together.

"Man, Cash! This is _so_ cool! Why didn't we think of this earlier?" The shorter of the pair snickered, their forms silhouetted by the night.

"Never mind that, Sammy, just cut through so we can get to work."

Snap, and the one of the chain links were shattered in two. Pulling the disconnected chain off the fence, Cash and Sammy proceeded to push the barriers away, revealing a large impound, long and completely filled with expensive cars of all kinds.

"Man! Jackpot! We won't be needing any more cars after this!"

"_Awesome._"

"I, personally, never understood how one could derive such positive stimuli from merely looking upon the general shape of certain automotive devices." Another cool voice droned in.

Cash and Sammy turned about in confusion at the sudden new voice, and were promptly were bowled over by a blast of freezing flames, their tossing forms stuck in mid-flight by a large crystal mound of ice. They protested this quickly until a particular boy in a blue winter jacket came out of the shadows, lighting another cylinder. That sight shocked them.

"Hey, man! What's up with this? Aren't you that Mr. Freeze guy everybody's talking about?"

"Yes."

"B-but aren't you supposed to be one of the bad guys?"

"I'd believe that is what I am commonly referred to as."

"But what are you stopping us for! We're bad guys! Right?"

"As far as I am concerned, you are trespassing."

-

-

-

**Good Deeds**

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Yes, the sales location for used cars. The one near the chain restaurant that specializes in the sales of hamburger products in the southern area of the city. Thank you. Yes, I'll stay where I am. I do hope you hurry. I am unsure how long these two criminals will be engaged in grand theft auto. Yes, I'll call if anything comes up. Thank you."

Mr. Freeze shut his phone to the sight of Terra, partly out of curiosity, partly out of boredom, lean forward to poke incessantly at Cash and Sammy's head that remained about their encasement of ice, blandly listening to the various objections to her actions.

"Terra. The authorities are enroute. Let us continue our patrol."

"You sure they're not going to get out, Freeze?"

"The ice at this density is a little weaker than steel. They won't be able to escape."

"Right then…" Terra hummed out as she rose up, stretching out her back with risen hands.

The two of them thus walked onwards through the darkness of the south side of Jump City, the portion ruled under the gaze of Olympus Height and its Foundation.

"Freeze?"

"Yes."

"Really. Explain this to me, one more time. Why are we stopping bad guys?"

"A simple matter of deterrence. We help in the apprehension of other perpetrators in the area under our jurisdiction; the majority of the felons will then shy away from here, leaving us with in control of resources in this area."

"… This won't involve getting cats out of trees or anything right?"

"I find it improbable for a young girl to conveniently lose her feline companion in a tree at this time of night."

-

-

-

Somewhere, there was a floating redhead and her companion cat of exquisite hue, one that was climbing up a tree for entertainment while they patrolled for evildoers.

They simultaneously sneezed.

-

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-

"Seishoujo Ryouiki" started doing a tinkle in Freeze's pocket as the two walked down the alleyways. Valentine's tune for this month, apparently taken off another of those Japanese animated shows, one that had something to do about animated dolls that all dressed in exaggerated lacey outfits reminiscent of Victorian dress. Nobody bothered trying to understand what drove Valentine to actually watch something like that, but nonetheless, there was Valentine's ringtone for the month, in all its high-pitched, synthetic glory.

"Yes, Valentine?"

_"Hallo, Freezie! Just pop in and out, I was checking out the city from out here. Nothing really, just your usual jewelry store break in and all that."_

"Where?"

_"Hmm…looks like it's a few block away from you, to the east."_

"Very well, Terra and I shall go investigate this matter."

"_Oh, and Freezie?"_

"Yes."

"_Out of curiosity, what do you think makes a better murder weapon? A rabid dog or an icicle?"_

"…I am cutting communication now, Valentine."

_"Mou! Fine! You might as well hurry to jewelry place now, Freezie. Those guys are going to town."_

"Very well." Freeze uttered before slapping his phone shut. Turning to Terra he uttered a simple "Hurry", before the two rushed off to the east.

-

-

-

As Starfire and Beast Boy flew into the scene of the disturbance (some overly ambitious jewel heist or other), they found themselves gaping.

A group of thugs in ski masks and such were buried up to their necks in either shattered pavement or a solid layer of ice.

"Uh… hey?" One of the thugs attempted, "Look! This doesn't look like what it looks like, all right? We got jumped by those new super-freaks in the city we heard about!"

Beast Boy gave them a sort of bemused look, "Really? Then what are the crowbars for?"

"Yes. And those Masks of Skiing? Are these not usually worn by late night perpetrators?" Starfire honestly asked.

"Er… we're locksmiths! Honest?"

"Yeah… the masks… new fashion statement?" Another of the felons tried to fib.

"Nice try, but no tofu."

The thugs groaned.

Eventually, the city's authorities came to drag the convicts away. Between, Beast Boy picked up snatches of conversation, confirming already what he had guessed.

"You have to admit, the blonde was kinda cute…" Another inputted.

"She was a brick wall! Negative Z!" Yet another countered.

"Ah, shaddup! Last thing I need right now is to remember about her and that ice boy!"

_Terra… _

_The Mr. Freeze…_

The two Titans looked at each other briefly with an understanding before taking to the skies.

Looks like something was up with the Foundation again.

-

-

-

"Are you quite done yet with this sneezing?"

"_So-ree_. I suppose you never got a sneezing fit!"

"No."

"…Right. Let's get going then."

-

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-

The night wore on.

"Seriously, Robin! This is getting weird! We're already at the fifth minor disturbance tonight and they've already dealt with it!" Beast Boy whined into the communicator.

_"This does sound peculiar."_

"Weird doesn't even spell half of it! They stopped a mugging before we got there! The guy said they saved his life! Saved! This is Freeze we're talking about!"

Starfire leaned in to input as well, "Indeed Robin… I find it strange that these people of Foundation are helping to defend this part of the city. Do not villains usually attack it?"

"Yeah! Robin, I want to check this out. M-maybe Terra's remembered or something, and she's secretly helping-"

_"Negative. I don't know what the Foundation is up to, but they're helping the city right now, it's not an immediate threat. I figure it out from here."_

"But Robin! It's Terra!"

_"Exactly. She's not the same Terra, Beast Boy; I thought you'd have known that by now. Finish the patrol and head back, we'll discuss then."_

"…Roger."

Starfire looked on worried as the shape shifter shut the communicator, and called his name with the same emotion.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Robin's… probably right. Let's finish our job and get back."

-

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-

In the bright glare of a vending machine, Freeze slid in several discs of ice, perfectly emulating the weight and width of generic coin currency. Afterwards, he pressed on one display, causing a can to fall out into the plastic bucket at the bottom. He plucked it out and held it to an awaiting Terra.

"Your drink."

"Wow… I didn't actually think it'd work! You're not getting one?"

"I am not thirsty. I learned this technique early in my life. You could say tricking automated drink venders was my initiation into the life of criminal enterprise."

Terra couldn't help but chuckle at that, wagging her soda at the boy, "Mr. Freeze. Bane of vending machines across America. Hard to imagine you started from that and ended up here, robbing banks and machinery."

"I think that was how Valentine noted it when we first successfully robbed our first depository."

"Hmmm… how long have you two been together?"

"Since the beginning of my existence of whom you currently call Mr. Freeze."

"And you two never split up to make it out on your own? You two must either be really used to each other or trust each other."

"It is not a matter of trust for me. I do not have much faith in anything with emotion in it. Valentine simply has not yet found any good reason to betray me. The adjustment of each other to the other habits and preferences come in time."

"Really…" Terra broke off into a yawn, before walking down the street. Freeze followed her voice, "Really… what a night! I suppose this is what heroes do on a nightly basis?"

"We will be performing this function on set intervals as well, whenever we are not preparing another Foundation project."

"Yeah… I could get used to this, you know? I guess doing some good deeds once in a while isn't so bad…"

Something tried to sting what Freeze assumed was his frozen solid heart.

_Noshewantstoleaveshemightwanttoleaveshewasatitanshemightwanttogobacktothetitansanotherwillleavemeandtheneveryoneisgoingtoleavemealone-_

_Enough. This is infantile thinking and I am more mature than this. She is not a Titan. Her predecessor was a Titan, like she has told all of us. Still…_

"Do not get too adjusted. Remember, we are still technically un-apprehended criminals, no matter how much good we do. And these 'good deeds', as you put it, is only for our self-benefit of maintaining our territory with absolute scrutiny."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The Hawaii Five-O theme started playing on their phones again. Looks like Devil Hand had taken over the telescope now, Valentine probably having had gone off to sleep.

"Yes, Devil Hand?"

_"Nothing, just checking in. Looks like things all cool down now, since it bein' probably close to three…yeah, except those crazy high-tech commando lookin' fellas takin on that fancy research lab."_

"Where?"

_"You know, that one there on edge of our turf?"_

"Most likely some upstart prodigy deciding to destroy the city once he ascertains the necessary components. How childish. We will be there shortly."

_"Yeah! By the way, Boss?"_

"Yes."

_"You ever wonder why this city always seem to got these high-tech places asking to be raided up?"_

"No. I am cutting communication now."

"Yeah! Keep it cool, Boss!"

-

-

-

Terra groaned for the two of them as they stood before the towering structure, made more of pizzazz architecture and glass than steel.

"Man, I hate it when we go on jobs like these! There's hardly anything to use in these buildings, and I end up getting useless!"

"Noted. I'll have to find some way to draw them outside. You should find a suitable place of ambush till then."

"Fine… don't get killed while your all by your lonesome, Freeze." Terra nonchalantly warned to her leader as he continued onwards through the front doors that was melted through into a glowing circle.

A dull walk through the trail of destruction led Freeze to a high tech vault that was ripped open. Inside was some geeky punk in a gaudy orange outfit, a giant brain prop nestled on his head to accentuate the size of his thick glasses. The robot sentries he posted utterly ignored Freeze as he stood outside, watching the boy dance about a small container in the center of the room, monologue firing away to his cold-blooded audience.

"…And-and with this low temperature Ionic Battery to power my creations, not even the Teen Titans can stop the MIND BENDER!"

Freeze's automatically drifted into Tactical Mode at the sound of Mind Bender's nasal laughter, calmly regarding the situation.

_Obviously outclassed against my abilities, both in reaction time and tactics. Even his automated sentries do not act until given, most likely, verbal command. Single camera lens, portable particle weapon installed on one limb, not built for strength or speed. Still, it is unsound for one of me to face about ten of them, not including their leader. All it is a matter now is drawing them to Terra. The object is low temperature, he said?_

Mind Bender's laughter cut short on a choke at the sight of the canister set on the ground beginning to roll under its own accord. As it stopped in front of a booted foot, the upstart super villain shrieked at the sight of the blue figure mechanically picking up his hard-stolen prize.

"Who are you! How dare you think you can challenge the unstoppable intellect of the MIND BENDER!"

"I am known locally as Mr. Freeze."

"Ha! Never heard of you! Obviously some recent upstart who thinks he can usurp a veteran like the MIND BENDER!"

"The Friece and Valentine Foundation are fairly low-key. I shall be taking my leave"

Mind Bender sputtered at the back of Freeze as he walked off with the canister. "How dare you challenge the MIND BENDER! Mind Bots! Destroy the blue one!"

-

-

-

Terra sighed in the shadows at the sound of destruction inside.

_I really need to get better control of my powers, or everyone else is going to keep having fun instead of me._

And as if Murphy's Law fell down straight on her, Terra felt herself prickle at a familiar pair of voices that hovered its way down to the building Freeze was still in.

"…come friend Beast Boy! The alarm of security has been tripped here! Somebody is breaking in!"

"I can bet who's inside. Looks like Frosty got tired of playing hero before the night even ended. Let's go!"

And as Terra watched the two rush in, she slapped on her goggles with nary but a thought.

_Oh boy._

-

-

-

In an athletic leap away from the slick of ice that transported him, Freeze narrowly dodged another laser as his boots settled onto the railing of the open stairwell in the glass roofed podium of the building, one that lead downwards to the ground floor. In one arm, his lighter flared in the wind, in the other the sizable Ionic Battery under the armpit.

"Stop! The MIND BENDER commands you! You cannot match my superior intellect!"

"I have no pressing desire for such reciprocation, at any rate."

Leaping off the railings into midair, Freeze, lighter in one hand, burned his way downwards to the ground floor, until he landed heavily in a large pile of snow.

He emerged to the sound of starbolts exploding steel, and Mind Bender's pathetic shrieks up above at the top of the spiraling stairs as he was quickly apprehended.

"Dude, Frosty. I know your team is kinda one short of matching ours, but isn't picking him kinda a little too desperate." Beast Boy asked at the sight of the Foundation member pulling himself out of the snow.

"I find it disturbing you would actually think I, or anybody else in my organization, would consider associating with him." Was the retort while Freeze reached into the snow and pulled out the Ionic Battery. That immediately put the shape shifter on edge.

"And where do you think you're going with that?"

"Outside."

Starfire fell by Beast Boy's side to also confront their mutual enemy, "And we will not let you escape again! Especially not with what foul machinations you intend with that device!"

"I have estimated as much. Terra, the staircase beside us is made of concrete."

Behind the Titans, at the front doors, the geokinetic grunted with effort with her energized fists, causing the steps in question to quickly groan and crack and split from its metal foundation, forcing the structure to fall towards the party in front of her. All three of them only managed to dodge away from the explosion of dust and stone.

Flying upwards, Starfire managed to rise above the dust cloud, and found Mr. Freeze and Terra rushing out building empty handed.

"Beast Boy! They are escaping!"

"Not again! Come on, we'll split up and go after them. I'm going after Terra!"

"I shall try to stop the Mr. Freeze!"

The two of them rushed back into the smoke after them.

Meanwhile, somewhere, the Ionic Battery lay forgotten.

-

-

_-_

_Stupid Freeze! What gave him the idea to split up! We can take 'em on! And he can skate! It's not like D' and I have some handy-dandy mode of transportation._

These were Terra's darkly panted thoughts as she raced down the alleys towards one of many safe-points Valentine installed in the sewers, where she could quickly direct herself back to Olympus Height from the twisting routes while losing her pursuers.

Her path forwards was suddenly cut off when a hawk dropped down in front of her as Beast Boy.

"Terra!"

The girl snorted and pulled her goggles on again, "You again. You either are a slow learner or an idiot. Either way, it's not exactly the smartest thing to do to fight me. In an alleyway. Full of rocks and bricks."

"Look, I don't want to fight you!"

"And how long do you think you can stay alive with that attitude while I toss enough stone to bury you alive?"

Beast Boy frowned as he folded his arms defiantly, "How am I supposed to know? All I want to do is talk."

Terra's annoyance threatened to peak at the sheer… she wasn't sure what to make of this Titan. Whether his unwillingness to get down and dirty with her only was only because chauvinism, idiocy, naivity, bravado…

Her instincts told her to forget his plea. Just bury the idiot while she had the chance. She's stronger, she has the advantage, and she knew it.

But her gripped fist, which seemed to be trying to make her release her pent up tension seemed to be trying to warn her otherwise.

"Humor me."

-

-

-

Hissing steam expanded and drifted upwards across half a city block as starbolts and freezing flames collided against each other, neither claiming dominance over the other.

Physical strength was something Starfire kept in spades, though, and made good use of now. As Freeze unleashed another deluge of blue frozen death, the Tameranian, whose body was built for harsher and colder of outer space, gracefully dove in, and brutally flew out with a flying tackle into Freeze's face, knocking him across the street.

Staggering to his feet, Mr. Freeze lit another cylinder nonchalantly, despite the fact he had just spent the last minute eating pavement. He breathed out easily before staring intently at Starfire, "It is just the two of us now. I refuse to admit defeat or retreat at your pitiful personage."

Whipping flames about his weapon arm, a sharp icicle formed about his limb. With that, he rushed down at Starfire, slashing precisely, while she backed away, punching ice that quickly regenerated.

And things quickly degenerated into violence.

-

-

-

Terra sat on the dumpster, and Beast Boy continued to stand. Apparently, he was the type who couldn't stay still when he was vehement for something.

And they kept talking.

"I don't know how many times I'm going to say this. The Terra you know is gone. I'm someone different."

"That's not true! You still… act kinda the same, and you look the same, and you got de-rocked, right? You just got a bit of memory loss, that's all!"

"Why do you want me on your side so badly anyways? The original Terra was a cheap traitor, I heard. Valentine still calls me Achey Breaky."

"That's not true! Slade just tricked you into working for him! You used to be afraid of your powers, and… we still wanted to be your friends, Terra! And me…"

"What about you?"

Beast Boy tried to find a way to say it. The fact she didn't even remember was awkward enough…

Terra sighed at the silence, seeing it as a lack of a real answer, and hopped off her seat. "Whatever, I have to go, and I going to collapse this portion of the alley to keep you away. No hard feelings, you understand."

As she walked past Beast Boy, he turned around for one more thing, "Terra!"

"What?"

"Look, even if we are on different sides… we can still be friends right?"

"…You really are an idiot."

That line deflated the shape shifter's face, who quickly turned into an entire pouting puppy. This had a detrimental effect on Terra's self-esteem.

Rolling her eyes, she sighed, "Okay, maybe if there were some freak occurrence that I actually needed your help of all people and no one else's."

That brightened him up immediately, despite the innumerable odds, "Good enough for me!"

"Hurrah. Now get going before I collapse the alleyway on you."

Stepping back, Beast Boy watched on as the walls of bricks shook and crumbled into a high pile that cut off each other's point of view. Beast Boy could have easily flew over it… but…

_No…I'm gonna be her friend, no matter how hard or how long it's gonna take me. I'll get Terra back._

-

-

-

The spraying hoses of several smashed fire hydrants fed the gigantic growing ice structures that were crystallizing in every which way above Freeze.

"Let us see you dodge something of this size. No matter how difficult or how extensive this will take us, I will destroy you."

Starfire backed away cautiously at the looming weapon.

"Your fears hold you back, your ability weakens just because of your resolve in the sight of this. You cannot think properly to analyze tactics and counter maneuvers. And you presume to believe you can match me? That any of your weak, overly emotional agency members can match us?"

Starfire roared at those words, firing another group of shots directly at Freeze. A hand gesture brought several stalactites of ice downwards to intercept each blow, exploding about the apathetic boy.

"It is over."

A fast paced tune of wind chimes, flutes, music of the desert alerted Freeze. Terra's tune. Freeze allowed the giant structure to drop about him, conveniently shielding him for a few moments while he picked up his call.

"Terra."

_"What's taking you so long? I thought you'd be here first, since you wanted to get back so fast!"_

"I was caught up in combat with the Starfire. I must have lost track of the time."

_"Well, how are you?"_

"Delayed. Do not worry. Your concern is noted, I shall return as soon as possible."

_"Yeah… get back fast, Freeze."_

"Of course."

The ice structure exploded suddenly, forcing Starfire to cover her face as shards of wet frost slapped about everywhere. As she looked up again, she found the ground where Freeze was shattered and frozen, revealing a deep hole in the sewers.

-

-

-

Valentine walked back into the Observatory room, yawning as she shrugged on a blazer to keep out the cold for a moment. It was after she trudged to the fridge and back that she noticed what was flopped on the couch.

Terra snored as she lay stretched untidily, while on another couch, Freeze sat, hands on knees, head tilted downwards, body unmoving.

"Long night, huh? And this already from just playing Hero…"

-

-

-

**Episode 10: "CY-B-Q" – When a simple dinner turns horrendously wrong, Valentine immediately tasks her friends with finding new ingredients. Of course, when you're a villain, it becomes slightly more difficult to visit the local supermarket…**


	10. CYBQ

The sun was setting on Jump city in a beautiful bloody red and yolky yellow. The golden rays shone through the open hatch of the observatory on Olympus Height, painting its inhabitants with shadows and lights amidst their open air activities.

Valentine sat, mirthlessly staring at the television in front of her while her long legs stretched out onto the coffee table ahead of her. Lucky Clover sat on her lap dozing. Up above on the second story railing encircling the observatory, Terra decided that TV was below her intelligence and was content to watch the sunset, while her own electronic music player tickled her ears.

Nearby, in the center of the observatory, several stones were pulled from the mountain, serving as either a fire pit or crudely carved into the rocky barbeque pit that stood above it.

And Valentine was in ecstasy, watching her one of her favorite DVD series.

"_Kero-chan! This aura…"_

"_No doubt about it. It's a Clow Card."_

"_It's coming!"_

"_This is-"_

Click.

_"When evil haunts the night, there is a silent Crusader who carries the torch of justice. Those with evil hearts, beware! For out of the darkness comes the GRAY GHOST!"_

"AAAGGGH!"

Valentine turned in disbelief at Devil Hand, who stood behind the sofa with an arm outstretched and a remote in hand. He then flopped onto the couch beside Valentine.

"D'! What is the meaning of this?"

"Ya know. The Gray Ghost marathon is up. It's a classic and I wanted to watch it."

"I. Was in the middle. Of something. VERY IMPORTANT. And you just cut me off to watch some random black and white hero show!"

Devil Hand pushed up his sunglasses in offense, "Hey, Val'! The Gray Ghost's a classic! Got way more flair than your girly Japanese cartoon shows!"

"Classic? You call a prehistoric film nobody ever heard of a classic? Card Captor Sakura is a groundbreaking pioneer of the mahou shojo anime genre! Now give me that remote so I can find out what happens!"

"No way, lady! Your kiddie show's on a disc, watch it later! Marathon's only once, and I wanna watch The Mad Bomber episode!"

"Give-"

"Hey-"

"Now-"

"Ge'off-"

Terra turned around briefly to watch D' and Val' wrestle with each other's wrists while they stood on their knees on the sofa, gnashing teeth at each other for control of the remote. She was never gladder she couldn't hear anything but music than now.

-

-

-

**CY-B-Q**

**-**

**-**

**-**

"What is the meaning of this?"

Devil Hand and Valentine turned around on the sofa to see Mr. Freeze's glorious return, plastic bag in hand. As for what was happening, the Foundation's brawler and sorcerer decided that a compromise was best. Thus, the mute button was on, while Devil Hand and Valentine glared and made jabs at the other's show by dubbing their voices over the silence as they intermitted between the shows.

"We're making fun of each other's TV shows." Valentine sniffed in a single sentence.

"It must be a very rewarding enterprise."

"In ways."

"Nevertheless, I have returned from your imposed shopping project, Valentine. Here is the food."

"Did someone say food?" Terra's voice yelled from below.

"Yeah-ha! Boss got the meat! Get ready for our first major BBQ-out!" Devil Hand cheered back, fist thrust into the air.

"Yes!" Valentine also celebrated, all ill-will previous now gone to the thoughts of feasting on cooking flesh, "Say, when was the last time we got to do something this nice, Freezie?"

"The utopian commune we stayed at previously before our arrival in Jump City. They also had a barbeque the night we left."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about them!"

Terra cut in, "Either way! I'm kinda wanting that dinner now…"

"Very well… here are the ingredients." Freeze proffered the bag in his hands. The other three together snatched it up.

"COOK OFF!"

"YES! FOOD!"

"Let's see here… ribs, sausages, bacon, steaks, chops, marinate-"

The last one stopped Valentine in her tracks as she glared at the label in her hands.

"Freezie?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get this?"

"I bought the marinate at the usual convenience store."

"Explain. This."

Freeze peered in on the outstretched bottle, the action causing Devil Hand and Terra to look up from their barbeque pit they were about to light.

"The CY-B-Q brand was the cheapest I could find."

"Freezie. Do you even know who endorses this stuff?"

"No."

Valentine gave a twitch, but muttered, "Nesium, Xelkias, Yensz, Kerici."

The television suddenly switched on a particular commercial, with a fairly memorable face half-made of blue electronic steel:

_"Remember, if you ain't grillin' with CY-B-Q sauce, you just ain't cookin! CY-B-Q brand: official marinate of the Teen Titans."_

Awed silence.

Devil Hand choked, "Dude! Boss! You just bought the sauce of the enemy!"

"It was cheaper. It is also a commercial brand; I would be surprised if business enterprises even sent royalties to the local crime-prevention agency. They are after all, children occupied with the protection of this city."

"That's not the point! You just bought the sauce of our enemy! You're endorsing them!" Terra tried to explain.

"I am not. I did not even know this CY-B-Q was created by the cyborg in their organization."

Valentine shook her head, "It doesn't matter! I'm not using the sauce of the enemy! It's like… lying to myself or something! We don't have a marinate, and if we don't have a marinate, we can't have a barbeque!"

"No!" D' gasped.

"We can have a barbeque without marinate, Valentine. It is not physically impossible." Freeze monotonously countered.

"Yeah, but it's principally, ethically, philosophically, and culturally impossible! You just can't have a BBQ without a cooking sauce! At least not one that is used to feed our mortal enemies, Freezie!"

"What do you suggest then, Valentine?"

The girl in black gave this thought as she brought a finger to her chin and tapped her foot. Humming a bit, she turned their trusted pugilist, "Devil Hand. Go out and get another marinate."

"What! Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Why?"

"First, you're not Freezie. Second, you feel about this as well as I do. Third, you have better shopping senses. Finally, you made fun of Card Captor Sakura, and I'm your boss, so I get to punish you."

"Er…"

A wallet was thrown into Devil Hand's face.

"Go! NOW!"

Terra sighed, "Go forth, brave warrior. The fate of dinner rests with you."

-

-

-

_I feel like I'm being mistreated or something._ Devil Hand glowered in his head as he headed down the elevator.

_I mean, I'm 18 right now! I'm being pushed about by kids three years younger than me!_ Devil Hand bemoaned as he paced down the emptying streets.

_Well, kids who can smite me with crazy magic tricks. I still think Val's show is kiddie._ Devil Hand decided as he entered a super market.

As shop goers turned about, they recognized his face through the news.

"OH GOD! IT'S THEM!"

"Huh?"

_Oh yeah. I'm a bad guy._

Next thing Devil Hand realized, there was a scream, then a torrent, and Devil Hand found himself in a suspiciously empty area of the super market.

_This… might take some getting used to._

-

-

-

"Titans! Trou…ble?"

They all stared for a good five minutes at the live feed of the familiar red form browsing through the empty aisles. Particularly the spice section.

"Will the wonders never cease." Raven drawled sarcastically.

"Robin, you sure you can catch this guy just because he's shopping?" Cyborg questioned. The resident boy wonder didn't flinch a bit.

"It doesn't matter. He's with the Foundation. One less member for them means one step closer to taking all of them down."

Cyborg shrugged, "You're the boss."

-

-

-

_This is a lot of stuff to take in. Which one? Hazel? Chestnut? Spicy? Full Grill? So many choices, D'!_

"Oh, just pick a bunch, D'! This is all of Val's tab, so this can be my revengin' on her revengin', heh."

Plan in mind, Devil Hand plucked off several of the more expensive brands of marinate off the aisles, and into the basket he carried with him. Whistling a jaunty tune back to the empty checkout counters, he realized an issue.

There were no cashiers.

Now, Devil Hand realized he was a crook, and that he could simply walk out of the store, and it wouldn't mean a thing. But Devil Hand was also a man of principle. When he wanted to _buy_ marinate, he'd buy it, no other which-way-watcha-whatever.

But there was still that lack of cashiers to work the thing. After all, Devil Hand never knew how to operate the dreaded registers.

_Man! I should have taken that job for cashiering, instead of doing that haulin' around in the back room. But you have to admit… Olivia was kinda cute… made it all worth it. Right, back to the issue at hand._

"Dude, there ain't any shop keepers left. That sucks."

_Come on, D'. It shouldn't be that much of a whopper, just stick the stuff in the laser, open up the box somehow, and do the change, right?_

The sticking of the marinate in the lasers was no problem, but it took D' a couple hundred buttons to figure out which one opened the register. Combining that with the fact that every button press forced him to re-read the products through the lasers… it just took him a while.

Finally the register opened up its change to Devil Hand. He cheered in victory.

_Right… so that makes it maybe like… thirty four… and I got like fifty…so I get my change…_

Devil Hand closed the register after picking out sixteen dollars, bagged his marinate and headed for the door.

Which promptly blew inwards into his face.

As Devil Hand got up from his slide across the checkered flooring, he whined out loud, "Dude! What was all that for-oh."

The cowboy sweated the sight of five different superheroes blocking off the front entrance.

"We're taking you in, Devil Hand." Robin put it simply.

"For what? Buying marinate that ain't your brand?"

Beast Boy caught onto that with surprise, "Dude, you actually buy Cyborg's sauce?"

"That. Was a total accident. We normally don't buy the sauce of the enemy."

Raven cut in sharply, "We don't need a reason to take you in. So be a good boy and just come quietly."

Devil Hand smiled, adjusted his hat, and shifted the bag in his right slightly, "Pardon, miss. But I ain't exactly one to sing choirs. Had enough of my folks tellin' me that."

The Titans tensed as the pugilist began to walk towards them, still talking, "I guess I gotta give and take a few lickin's on my way out the door, but that's alright for you guys. I only got my left hand free here…"

Devil Hand drew back his divine limb, tattoos glowing ember.

The Titans took a step back in preparation.

A tense silence.

Devil Hand gulped, spun about, and ran in the opposite direction.

"Titans! MOVE!"

The place was larger than Devil Hand had expected, as he heaved down the aisles and aisles and aisles…

_Man! Why this always happening to me whenever I go out to do something? First I had to go find Lucky Clover when he run off, and now this! Over Marinate!_

The two shelves on either side of Devil Hand glowed black, and slid towards each other, the man still in the center. With a terrific shout, Devil Hand leapt into the air and shot out his legs, booted feet slamming into the racks and sheer strength managing to keep them apart.

"That… was close."

Devil Hand spoke too soon, as a boa constrictor decided to wrap its ton of flesh about him very tightly, the added weight dropping both of them to the ground.

"G-mph…uf…meph!" The cowboy hat sticking out of the coils of flesh protested as the tube of snake with cowboy boots poking out the other end stumbled about, bumping into various things and without any release from the green snake. Eventually a burning left hand pushed itself into Beast Boy's scaly flesh, pushing Devil Hand's face free as he snarled.

"Dude! Offa me NOW!"

An amazing blow threw the entire snake off the cowboy, the freedom accidentally making him stumble forward.

A wet sound emanated from the plastic bag. Devil Hand looked at it with increasing horror at the stain. Reaching in, he found one of the bottles twisted up, unable to hold the pressure from the boa constrictions, and now the torn material had healthy amounts of marinate leaking from it.

"Dude! You BROKE one of them! I only have four left now! I paid THIRTY DOLLARS FOR THIS! Alas, poor honey flavor… your sacrifice will not be in VAIN!"

The supernatural brawler roared and swept his fist downwards, releasing a shockwave of amber at Beast Boy, forcing the younger latter to leap out of the way of the ensuing explosion. Devil Hand took this moment to continue towards the rear of the complex, towards the frozen foods. Beast Boy twitched at the knowledge of what mainly was stored there but chased after and into the veritable moratorium of animals.

As the pair raced down the plastic tubs spewing frosty mist, the pursued found an opening and a weapon with a triumphant, 'Ah-ha!' in his head.

"Okay, elf! Take this!"

Devil Hand slid to a 180 halt with a clean squeal, dropped his marinate momentarily to slam his palm into tub of frozen products. The force was enough to cause several packaged meats and others to bounce into the air. The world seemed to slow for Devil Hand as the meat gleamed off his sunglasses, and his kicked into the air, his arms supporting his body as they gripped the sides of the frozen products section, and his legs slamming into each ham with soccer finesse…

Beast Boy was helpless as he took a wrapped ham to the face, several ribs to the stomach and a T-bone to the ankles, tripping him up.

"Score! YES!"

Devil Hand ran onwards, hoping to make use of the head start. As he moved into the canned foods section, his bag decided to promptly blow up, sending bits of brown cooking sauce everywhere, including Devil Hand's immaculately clean clothing.

The pugilist choked as the three remaining bottles fell to the ground, his frozen hand holding the ripped plastic bag.

_NO! Hazel! NO!_

Cyborg's face peered through the smoking hole in the shelf beside Devil Hand, "Nice arm, care to compare?"

The shelf split in two from the force of a somersaulting kick, spilling metal cans everywhere as Devil Hand shouted indignantly to Cyborg.

"Dude! Look here, Dr. Ion! You're laser cannon ain't even Alexander enough to match the beauty of my unmasked face, and second you just broke my hazel marinate! I like hazel! You better pay for my dry cleaning as well!"

The man-machine leaned back from the explosion of words in disbelief but hardened up, pointing back with his sonic cannon, "Sounds like you need to clear your head first."

Despite the weapon's power, Devil Hand had even more prowess in close quarters, as a leg lashed upwards into Cyborg's weapon right arm, sending the blast upwards into the Styrofoam and plaster ceiling, with bits of it flying everywhere from the blow. Devil Hand continued with that, swinging the full force of his rising leg around and into the elder Titan's chest. In moments, Devil Hand stood on one leg while the other cannoned away rapidly into various points of Cyborg's torso, leaving his large frame to only jerk to and fro with every hit, until the pugilist dropped his foot to rear back and launch a final spiking heel with the other leg, sending Cyborg through the wall.

"Take that, and-"

Green blasts erupted everywhere, leaving the man to jump from foot to foot as he gave a yelp and ran away in vain from Starfire, plucking up the three remaining canisters in his arms on the way. The pair ran about the various pathways around the supermarket, until they finally met up in the beauty products section.

"Okay! This is getting really tiring! Let's fight for it!" Devil Hand proclaimed whilst stuffing his three tubes of marinate along the other shampoos.

"Very well! What are we fighting for?"

"That's a good question and- oh, look, it's your boyfriend!"

"Huh?" Starfire naively spun about in midair, figuring out what Devil Hand meant by a boy friend. Curiosity abounded too much, due to Devil Hand's mostly earnest features. With that, the brawler spun about and latched the crook of his foot about a container of baby powder and sent it through the air towards Starfire. The Tameranian spun back about again to the danger sense and the sight of the flying box, and fired off a round of eyebeam, leaving an explosive plume of irritating white smoke flying into her body, leaving her sneezing and coughing and tearing from the haze.

Devil Hand rushed forwards under one of these starbolt sneezes and had his foot burn with God Power.

"Milky Way- DRAGON KICK!"

The blow sent Starfire through the ceiling. Satisfied with the size of the hole, Devil Hand returned to his marinate.

The shelf was a smoking mess due to a starbolt sneeze, two tubes of the precious liquid pathetically rolling across the ground.

"This… is… really…stupid."

One of the canisters decided to turn black and explode.

Raven was at the end of the aisles, smirking, "Did I get your attention, cowboy?"

Devil Hand seethed, pulling up an imaginary sleeve on his left arm, "Oh yeah, you sure got it…"

-

-

-

"I'm bored!"

"I'm hungry!"

"I am winning. Pay attention. You wished to play chess after all."

Valentine and Terra frowned simultaneously from their end of the board, while Mr. Freeze leaned back expressionlessly.

"Still! It's been a long time since D' left! What's he up to now…?" Valentine whined, before slumping into her elbows on the table, "Oi, Achey-Breaky? Where should we move?"

Terra hummed at her black pieces, before deciding, "Pawn to C4."

The magic on the board pushed an animated hunched figure forward.

"Bishop to C4. Check."

The two girls winced together as the solemn figure used its rod to shatter the pawn.

"I see that your foresight is still a few steps short of mine, Valentine." Freeze noted blandly.

The girl in question huffed and looked away, muttering contemptuously, "Wizard chess…"

"Still, Freeze, aren't you just a little bit curious about where D' is?" Terra asked.

"He is older than any one of us. He can take care of himself."

-

-

-

_So this is what a TV dinner feels like…_ Devil Hand amusedly realized to himself, as he took a break in the ventilation work in the ceiling, after diving upwards into it.

The sun had fallen since then, and a huge number of police work had set itself up outside the supermarket, alongside the Titans. Apparently, fights that lasted longer than a minute was a new concept to the goers of the city. So there was a mass freak-out as everyone whined at the Titan's latest evil nemesis, obviously holed up in the supermarket with hostages and bombs and demanding something to take over the planet.

_I seriously need to get out of here. I'm getting hungry._

_Maybe the roof…_

_Well, it's just you and me now, Maximum Juiciness_.

With his tattoos glowing faintly in the dark to provide a way of light, Devil Hand crawled through the dusty ducts, until he pulled himself upwards…

A fist smashed into the grating, letting the sheet metal fly off. As Devil Hand pulled himself up, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeeeeeh… I can breath fresh air…"

D' Sense forced its owner to handspring away from his egress point, while birdarangs sliced into the metal. As Devil Hand rolled to a halt with his bottle in hand, he found his final hunter.

"It's over, Devil Hand. I was expecting you'd be here."

"Eh… hey, kid, you gotta be cool. If your not relaxed, you'll never be Alexander enough to keep up with me. Ain't Chui-hui teach you anything? At this rate, you'll only be really good at the Bear techniques."

Robin frowned as the two circled each other; "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about that. What did you mean you trained the True Master when she was young?"

"…what else did I mean? I did train her."

Robin roared and dove at Devil Hand, who limbered away. There, the two boxed, trading and parrying fists, fingers, and wrists.

"You- have to- be- joking." Robin doubted between attacks.

"Why-?"

Robin flipped under a double butterfly kick and caught another whirling strike with the sides of his hands, leaving Devil Hand stuck with his foot lashed out.

"You're only eighteen. That kind of contradicts the fact you trained a woman whose lived till now." Robin smirked.

Devil Hand gave a smile of his own, before suddenly falling off his remaining foot, using his descending momentum to swing his free foot across the Boy Wonder's jaw, and springing away with his freedom.

"Yeah, true. I'm eighteen. How do I put it? …I remember also being this Chinese guy who was really Alexander, and _he_ trained Chui-hui."

"What?"

"Yeah, you know. The God Hands here are old, you know. I just happened to be the one born with it this time, but there were a lot of other guys who had these nifty arms."

Robin snorted, "Thanks for the history lesson. But that doesn't make you better than me at all."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'll just put that to the test, then."

The tattoos lit up, and Devil Hand rushed forwards in thrusting path of flames. Robin jumped upwards and reached behind his back before flinging out an array of orbs that exploded within the pugilist's path.

As the smoke cleared, Devil Hand was stumbling away from it. As Robin fell to the ground, he rushed in on the off balanced opponent.

"Cool, man! Cool! If you're gonna be Alexander enough, you gotta know how to take it-"

"Shut up!"

Devil Hand smirked, and twisted around to suddenly regain control of his balance, before swinging his God Hand about in practiced motions, wreathing flames through the air until he dropped to one knee and exploded the power in his palm. The force was enough send Robin tumbling backwards.

Devil Hand shrugged, "See? You run too hard, you fall down just as hard. You're pretty good with what my kid taught you, but you're not cool enough to handle Snake and Monkey yet, along with… a dozen other things."

"And you're too relaxed. You never take anything seriously."

"Hey, when you live forever, no matter what, life's like a big summer vacation. Don't matter what you do! Cause when it's over for me, I'll just close my eyes and open 'em up to be ready to get girlfriends and learn more stuff all over again!"

Robin lashed out with his staff, while Devil Hand dodged and returned with just as much finesse.

"I'll beat you… I swear I will!"

"No man, swearing ain't Alexander! Win is win, lose is lose, and tomorrow never dies! You gotta relax-"

Devil Hand reached out suddenly, and Robin found his neck completely covered by a tattooed hand that began to glow."

"-Or you'll burn yourself out."

"ROBIN!"

Devil Hand jumped away from more green blasts, as Starfire apparently returned from the Milky Way. With a few more fanciful flips, Devil Hand landed on the ledge of the supermarket, in the full light of the police who shone on him from below, tingeing the red coated man in a sort of white aura.

"Got my marinate, and I'm all set for dinner. Think of it, kid! You might be able to beat me one day, but you gotta learn how to be Alexander first. Later!"

"Wait-"

Devil Hand back flipped towards the center of the police mass below him. Fist glowing, D' punched the ground the moment he hit it, resulting in a giant shockwave that rent the asphalt and sent giant chunks of concrete and steel upwards, while Devil Hand disappeared in the chaos.

Starfire floated down in worry to her friend, who stared at the hole in the ground, "Robin! Are you unharmed?"

Robin's mouth tightened in disgust at himself, "Yes Star… I'm… fine."

-

-

-

Devil Hand yawned and adjusted his glasses as he came out of the elevator into the observatory, "Yo, Val! I got your new sauce for ya!"

Mr. Freeze turned from the chessboard he was playing against himself. Terra dozed on the sofa, and Valentine was no longer to be seen.

"By Valentine's standards, I believe you would be behind schedule." Freeze put it, as he caught the bottle that was tossed to him.

"Sorry, Boss. The Supermarket was a killer. So where's everyone?"

"Terra is asleep. Valentine gave up waiting for you and is currently engrossing herself in Factory work."

"So it's just the two of us then, right? You wanna eat now?"

"…No. I never particularly enjoyed barbeques. Too long cooking something I cannot taste at any rate."

A silence.

Devil Hand slapped his face.

-

-

-

**Episode 11: "V For Vendetta: Acte 1" – Tick, Tock, Raven. Time's running out. You're growing more and more beautiful everyday, and no one else can see it, except those who you hate and fear. The Day is nigh, and you can't stop it, and no one can help you… except me.**


	11. V For Vendetta: Acte 1

_Fly! FLY!_

Raven kept those thoughts always circulating in her head as she continued to scream through the air, throwing whatever should could behind her, always running from the undead burning force that was chasing after her, demanding the his message be delivered.

If I can just make it for the next few hours- 

Raven bit back that thought with a hiss of how stupid she was.

_I froze time! It doesn't matter now! All I can do is run._

_All I ever do is run from fate…_

_But there's nothing I can do…_

_Nothing…_

_Nothing?_

And all of a sudden, as she raced down one street, she caught eyes with a familiar figure still moving in a world stopped dead by the Titan. That black form that continued to prance in glee even in this time gone mad out of hand.

Their eyes met. Raven stared in disbelief as they passed each other for eternity.

Valentine smiled and waved hello while her teeth clenched the straw of her soft drink.

And they were gone just like that, Raven and that glowing man that was chasing after her.

Valentine scrunched up her face in annoyance as she spoke to herself, "That's not cool at all… Rae-chan's got a suitor."

Silent Night sounded through to her ears alone, though in this frozen world even sound waves stopped moving. She pulled out her phone.

"Yes, Freezie?"

_"How much longer are you going to prohibit us from leaving Olympus Height?"_

"I don't think much longer… oh, Freezie, remind me to check the clocks back home when I get back."

-

-

-

**V For Vendetta: Acte 1**

**-**

**-**

**-**

Some days had passed since Raven's birthday, and every time she looked down at her palms, she could feel the inscriptions burning underneath her skin, just waiting to rip her body apart into pure energy to allow… _him_ through.

She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even hug herself to feel some comfort. All the warmth she felt seemed like the sweltering heats of coal burners, no comfort, only sweat and toiling to feed a destructive force that gave nothing back.

She couldn't meditate. One day, Beast Boy had simply pulled on of his practical jokes again, and she fumed it off in her mind. Never mind, that just a quick Azarath Metrion Zinthos and everything will feel better-

Her mind was instead treated to a front row seat of the brutal future image of a petrified Beast Boy, clawing at the air as stony faces of terror gripped his body like some bizarre sacrifice, the sky burning red, the sea a molten lava flow, the world turned to ash-

Raven punched a wall in her room, hissing at the pain. Anything to make sure that memory didn't return.

"What's… happening to me…?" She whispered to herself, falling to the floor.

She knew full well what was happening. She was just warming up, getting ready to burn the world to cinders.

There was nothing she could do to avert this.

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

The number still held out strong in her mind, taunting her with every fiber of its being. She couldn't get rid of the thought. No matter how many poems or written works or other memories she tried to pile on top of it, it still remained like some fond childhood memory, clinging to its last and whispering sweet temptation to her whenever she didn't have anything else to think about.

"No! I won't go to her… I won't ever ask her… never…"

-

-

-

A week or so later, she found Robin in the records room again, replaying that fight with Slade, over and over, fingers crossed over his mouth as he burned his white eyes out at the mark the formerly dead villain revealed on his brow.

"Robin… how long have you been looking at this?"

"As long as I need to if I want to figure out what this mark has to do with Slade."

_It's the Mark of Scath! It means Slade's now the servant of the most powerful demons ever! And I'm his portal…and you'd hate me…_

"You mean all night again. You really need to take a rest."

"Don't worry Raven, I will soon."

Robin continued to watch. Raven was silent and headed on out. Maybe Cyborg had some decent conversation about matters not pertaining to the utter domination of the universe. So she headed down to the lower levels of Titan's Tower, to Cyborg's engineering laboratory of a room.

"So… what's up?" Raven attempted dryly. Cyborg was fiddling with the molecular structure of some metal. That had the sorceress curious.

"You're usually playing games with Beast Boy now. What's this, then?"

"Not now. Not after what I seen Slade do… I was hoping I might be able to pull some alloy together to throw of that fire trick of his." Cyborg half explained to himself and to Raven.

Raven frowned. She somehow felt longing for the more annoying but familiar days when Cyborg and his shape-shifting punching bag went out at odds on a Gamestation, cheering out randomly and annoying her reading, while Starfire was off making strange alien concoctions instead of double-timing her patrols to make up for her friends delving into research about something she knew but didn't want them to discover.

"Look, you guys do enough for me. You need breaks like everyone else."

"Don't worry about me, little girl," Cyborg reassured, eyes ever concentrated on an anti-Slade metal, "I got plenty of batteries to spare, so chill."

_Waste your batteries on something ELSE!_

Raven realized she slammed her palms onto the desk, shaking it, after Cyborg asked what was wrong.

She excused herself with a "Nothing, I just need to… meditate."

_Even my friends are tiring out from all this…_

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

-

-

-

The week after that Raven choked, her eyes widening with surprise as she felt her cup of herbal tea slip out of her stopped hands and onto the table, slapping the green liquid across the surface.

"Friend! Is something the matter?"

"Dude! What's wrong?"

She barely kept her hand from shaking as she brought her hands to her lips.

"Nothing!" She quickly threw back as she rushed out of the Ops room, panting.

_I can't taste. I can't taste._

She couldn't feel the refreshing warmth of her favorite tea slide down her throat. She couldn't even taste the coolness of the air as she ran. All she could feel was the heat. The heat in her tongue welling up against the sides of her mouth.

_I can't taste. I'm losing everything, so slowly…_

The heat in her mouth was becoming unbearable, like the bottom of her mouth was about to melt right out and leaving burning pieces of glowing molten rock to hiss on the carpet and send everything up in flames-

Raven dashed for the washroom, and dove her mouth under the tap she forced open, drinking and drowning, if she could just cool her tongue down-

Starfire caught up beside her, "Friend! Are you all right? Was the tea of herbs too hot?"

Raven looked up and tried to give a disarming smile, "Yeah that was all… it was just too hot."

-

-

-

Sleep only gave her nightmares, meditation only told her the future, her friends only reminded her of inevitable, and her own mind taunted her towards temptation.

Nothing gave her pleasure now. There was only one source left she could trust to not betray her.

Raven thus dove into her books. Spell books, books of history, whatever, Raven just let her mind race through the words, just keep reading, keep your mind full, do your bit to help your friends. Find that symbol; find some loophole in her fate. Raven just kept going through her endless archives, searching ever searching. As soon as her concentration waned on one article, she simply threw it away and picked up the next one.

Sometimes she read four at once. Whatever it took.

_Don't ever sleep Raven, don't ever think, just keep your mind full._ _Keep looking, there's got to be a clue somewhere._

By the end of the week, she had read all her books over five times. Nothing.

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

"NO!"

She toppled a bookshelf with a vicious thought.

-

-

-

How long has it been since she left her room? She only went out to eat food she couldn't taste, or to fly out and fight crime she couldn't feel. The warmth around the chakra crystal on her forehead seemed so immense she never took of her hood when she left her room. Goodness knows if any of her friends noticed her forehead glowing as well for all she knew.

Sometimes she wondered if her vision was even losing color.

All that was left was the heat in her body that was growing every day, steadily. At first she would have scoffed at the miniscule changes, but as it grew, like grains of sand in an hourglass, she began to detest it, feeling the power inch slowly, ever slowly, driving her mad with the infinitesimal time it was torturing her with the fact she was getting ready to destroy the world.

She barely cut herself short from screaming in her mind to get it done and over with.

No, she had to be patient. She had to wait. An opportunity would reveal itself eventually.

If her body didn't fail her first.

No, keep that mind full. Back to the books. Perhaps there's a clue I missed.

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

_-_

_-_

_-_

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)

"NO! SHUT UP!"

Black burst everywhere, cracking glass, ripping fabric, rending wood and stone.

"Raven, is something wrong? I thought I heard something." Robin's voice came through the door.

"No. You must have imagined it. I was just reading."

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No… there's nothing to help here… I'm fine…"

-

-

-

Raven sat on her bed.

(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)

_I won't. I won't give in._

Raven could almost hear Valentine's giggles as her mind replied with a mock voice:

**Why not? She's only a phone call away…**

_She's a witch of the worst kind. She'd only be using me. She's the enemy._

**She knows things you don't. She knows about the Underworld. And don't you use people too? You use the Titans to feel better about yourself. You just want to forget that you're going to kill everyone one day. But now that the cat's out of the bag… or is demon a better animal?**

_Shut up! I never use them. I'm a Titan just like them. She's butchers the dead for science experiments, she dabbles in taboo spells. The memory she placed on me is proof enough of that. You know full well as I do that she'll take advantage of… curse._

**She'll follow you to the ends of the earth if you can prove it. She's a hedonist. She only follows power, and you're power. If you can't trust her, you can trust her addiction. She's offered you an alternative. She's offered you a chance for freedom. Is your stubbornness about some already dead people and a few illicit spells going to stop you from saving the world?**

_If Slade went up and suddenly said his quest for world domination was for humanitarian purposes, and he gave several good arguments, does that erase what he did to Robin? To us?_

**She's a far cry from Slade. She's not the type to lie.**

_What makes me think that? She's liable to do anything._

**Demons deceive, but they never lie.**

_I can do this without her. My friends are looking into this everyday._

**But you already hate to seem them like that, spending hour after hour trying to find answers you already know. You've looked through all your books over and over, and you've found nothing. Why don't you tell your friends about what you know? Because you're afraid of what will happen when they find out. She already knows so much. It's true, my friends don't understand the world of magic, they don't understand the underworld. They can't help you with this. She can help you immensely.**

_I…I need to meditate… _

_(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)_

-

-

-

It was the dead of night again. The two birds found each other in the Records room again, Robin scanning through Slade's actions once more.

"Raven, are you alright? You haven't left your room for a few days."

"I'm…fine."

_If you completely disregard the fact I haven't slept in weeks, I can't feel anything, I'm about to fall apart mentally, and I'm close to destroying all of mankind…_

"Oh."

Silence. Slade said something in mute on the screens.

"Robin, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"But you have to promise not to tell anyone else about this. No one."

Boy Wonder turned around with concern, "Raven, what's the matter-"

"Are you going to promise or not?"

"Alright, I promise."

"Robin… say that the world was destroyed, and you and Slade were the only ones left. And if Slade knew a way to reverse it all, but he needed your help, would you?"

Silence. Screens flickered.

"I… I don't know. That's a hard question. It means I would have to trust somebody I hate. But if it means saving the world, I guess I'd have no other choice, though it wouldn't stop me from keeping an eye on him and turning him in right after."

"I see. Thanks."

"No problem."

Raven turned around with a flourish. Something about the question set off alarms in Robin's head.

"Raven, where are you going?"

"Just out. I haven't been out in a while. I need fresh air."

That was the final answer as she walked out of the room.

Robin frowned.

-

-

-

The payphone in its perfect symmetrical box stood there in front of her under the lamppost taunting her.

"It's just a phone call, Raven." She chided herself, eyes rolling as she walked forward.

She knew it was anything but.

Six-six-six-one-one-three-four.

Several seconds.

Several more seconds.

Raven was beginning to write the whole thing off as a twisted prank by Valentine.

Suddenly:

_"Hallo? Who's this? I don't recognize your ring tone. Speak freely before I summon fire and brimstone upon ye!"_

"Valentine, it's me."

Several seconds. Raven inwardly groaned as she could easily picture Valentine's slowly rising squeal and the grin that was crawling onto her face with realization.

_"RAE-RAE-CHAN! You finally called! I missed you! How's life? Never mind that, I already know. Some suitor proclaimed some words of undying love to you and you two exchanged marks to remember each other! I'm jealous! Here I thought you cared about me-"_

"Shut up. I need your help to fight him."

_"Honto-ne? That's Japanese by the way, but really? You want my help?"_

Raven ground her teeth as she muttered, "Yes."

_"Hmmm… say the Magic Word. A pretty one."_

"You have got to be kidding."

_"Oh, and with a cherry on top"_

"I don't have time for this, Valentine!"

_"Raven! Help! Something's wrong with my arm! It seems to be magically moving towards the disconnect button! Say it! Say it fast! HEEEELLLP!"_

Raven gave a disgusted exhale, "Valentine! I need your help to challenge Trigon! Pretty Please With a Cherry On Top!"

_"…Wow…I didn't expect you to actually listen to a weak human's demand. Where's your sense of pride, Rae-chan? You're a demon, threaten me with bloody death!"_

Raven's face darkened murderously, "You…"

_"Ah, never mind that, it's the thought that matters! Locium, Vindai, Mundo, Accel!"_

The sudden memory of the abandoned Groovy House dance club came into Raven's head through the phone.

_"I always wanted to have a dance with you Rae-Rae-chan! Come meet me!"_

-

-

-

Raven found Groovy House's ancient neon light half flashing alive, artificial cocktails and bubbles flashing in and out of existence while the pink title to the building flashed erratically.

The sorceress found it just as incessantly gaudy as Valentine's tastes. The front door was boarded shut, so Raven merely took flight to the roof, where the broken skylights allowed her to land in gracefully.

Lit by the moonlight through the opening above, Raven looked about at the moldering conditions in the dark around her. Over turned tables and moth eaten fabrics, broken chains and grim and dust everywhere.

"I'm here, Valentine. Show yourself." The cloaked girl shouted into the air.

A giggle only returned through the grating speakers.

_"I'm so happy you could come, Rae-rae-chan."_

"Stop calling me that. It's annoying."

_"Oh, but it's so cute! It suits you perfectly!"_

"Cut it out. Come out here so we can talk for real, Valentine. Enough of these games."

_"Not yet. Not yet. I still have to ask you something. Why are you here?"_

Raven snorted, "What kind of question is that?"

_"Answer! It's your intro to your second class to the Underworld."_

"Fine. I'm here because I need your help to stop Trigon from destroying the world."

_"Wrong! That's not the right answer! Find another one!"_

"What do you mean another one? That's all the matters, I have to stop Trigon-"

_"No, no, no! That's not the right response. It's not about stopping; it's not about saving the world. I'll tell you why you're here. You're here because you want to challenge Daddy to the throne. You hate his guts, and you're going down there to coup him to death, to usurp his kingdom! It's not about them, it's not about the happy people. It's about you. You're always so selfless Rae-chan. Always taking the pain into yourself and closing everyone else off to protect them. You need to be selfish. You need to want. It's about me. Me, me, me. What I want, what I can get out of this, and if the happy people get something nice out of it too, good for them. You're not here for the world. You're here for Daddy's power, because it will make you strong."_

"That's not true!"

_"It's going to have to be if you're going to survive an assault by demons. Not just the cheap stuff you saw in Otherside, but the real deal. Stop thinking about others and care only about yourself. It shouldn't be that hard… after all, you are a demon."_

Raven turned around to a particular source of sound with her own of hatred, yelling at a speaker in the darkness that promptly became consumed and pulverized by it. The other speakers laughed.

_"That's it! That's it, Rae-Rae-chan! Hate me with every bit of your being! Your fancy ideals aren't going to save you from demons, only primal sin! Lust for death! Bring wrath upon their heads, envy their lives, be gluttonous for their flesh, take pride in every aspect of your powers, put sloth into your refined self, and care only for being greedy for their red souls! You're strong, Rae-Rae! Prove it to me one more time! Prove that you're worthy to be my Queen!"_

The lights flared open, blinding Raven above and below as the dance floor came alive with amorphous shifting glows. The speakers began to play a tune that picked up speed in time.

_Time goes by… so slowly… Time goes by… so slowly…_

At the sound of toppling furniture out of her vision, Raven twisted around to catch the sight of a lean, white, bald creature in a business suit, cracking its joint experimentally. A pair of bat wings stood out from one shoulder, while it dourly looked on from under its sunglasses.

More of them emerged from various cover, forcing Raven to look about her, as she was trapped in the center of the room on the dance floor, while Valentine produced Orcmen gazed at her indifferently from table areas above.

The moment the music kicked into high gear, the creatures leapt at her, fists and other limbs raring to beat Raven's head in.

Raven swung under a group of self-projectile beasts, swirling around with a fierce "Azarath, Metrion Zinthos!" Metal railings around the room were torn from their positions and wielded about as a bludgeon by Raven's will, smashing bunches about at a time and sending them across the room with each blow. Valentine's white minions were durable, though, as they quickly stood up from each collapse to leap into the fray again. One of them managed to duck under Raven's swings to pull back and launch a fist into the side of her face with enough force to send off her feet and towards the opposite side of the room. Twisting around in the air, Raven's flying form looked under herself and threw her arms back to send debris at the enemies upside down in her vision. Several were struck down, but they simply rose again to give chase.

_"That's not the way to go about it, Rae-chan! These guys aren't human! Tear them to bits! Show no quarter!"_

One of them grappled the Titan about her waist. She hissed, and a mere thought had the Orcman turning black and sent right into the ceiling. Several more simply tackled her while her concentration was on the last. Raven thus found herself in a stunning recreation of her last visit to Otherside, the various white beasts planning to crush her from mere body weight.

_"Na-ni? Again? Are you wasting both are time with this? C'mon, put some back into it! You're never going to impress Daddy that way."_

A snap of the fingers followed on the speakers, causing the Orcmen to squeeze even harder, threatening every inch of breath out of Raven and every bone to shatter.

Eyes widened.

**NO!**

Black threw the Orcmen off her and Raven was up, teeth clenched and fangs bared, growling while her eyes shone red for blood, her body glowing red lines across her body. Throwing out her arms, darkness spread out like a phosphorus blade, lashing against all that were unfortunate to get caught against them.

They weren't getting up again, bodies crumpled to pieces. The music played on wildly.

One of them tried to dive towards Raven from behind. She simply gave a wild sneer and lashed out her palm, catching the creature by the face, before black glowed on her hand, sending the Orcman through the wall with a claw of energy.

Raven… was alive.

She could feel again. She could feel her fist burning with power as she smashed her hand into one of them from across the room.

She could taste again. She could taste the heated air flows around her, instructing her, telling her where they were coming from, where to turn next, where to attack.

She could meditate. This was her meditation. She didn't need to think any more. She just lost herself in the mantra of destruction about her, swinging her arms and gashing everything in her vision.

She felt so warm. It was like a blanket of comfort, surrounding her, nurturing her. She had all the peace she needed. All she needed to do was take it from her surroundings.

It was so right.

The glass dance floor under her hissed with exhaust as several portions rose into the air, revealing metal gantries under it that contained more Orcmen in reserve. Raven only grinned.

**More! More! I want to keep feeling this peace as long as possible! Send them all! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry, hurry, hurry, HURRY!**

She kept lashing out her black energy about her, cleaving metal, shattering glass, scattering minions.

Through the debris as she sent another one of the Orcmen through the steel reserve cages that were above the ground, Valentine flung herself out of it, grinning wildly like her Queen, book trailing beside her.

"Dracanis Talze Serk Fernar!"

The fat heavy leather tome flew in front of Valentine as she slammed both her palms into the back, while the front cover spat out a widening stream of flames. It swallowed Raven completely.

Next thing the foundation sorcerer knew, her cheek was smashed against the glowing floor, her body prostrate on her knees while Raven gave a fang filled grin as she gripped Valentine by the back of her neck.

"Scum! You should know your place." Raven laughed.

Valentine finally had a chance to see this new bird, and her gasp caught up in her throat. Words couldn't describe the lines of power painting down across Raven's form, the sheer marvel.

"You're… beautiful…"

With that, Valentine slammed the heel of her shoe into Raven's stomach, a magic circle having been printed on the sole.

"Actis."

The contact of Valetine's show to Raven's lower torso promptly exploded. As the demon stumbled backwards, Valentine swirled about and slammed her gloved palms onto the ground, "Ivine, Rosso, Speriat, Scien!"

Several artfully engraved spears ripped out of the ground just behind Raven, catching the back of her cloak in its blade and entrapping her arms between the rods. Valentine quickly drew herself to her feet and reached inside her blazer. Another iron-wreath canister of what she called Holy Water was produced, and she hurled it into Raven's trapped body.

The hissing steam wasn't enough to defeat the cloaked entity, but her roaring and thrashing was enough to wake her up a bit better. By the end, a Titan was panting in her impromptu prison, glaring at Valentine. The witch in a black suit walked up and slammed both her hands on either side of Raven's head.

"So, did you like it?"

Raven choked and looked away.

"You must have. I could see it on you. You enjoyed the power."

"I'm not like you, Valentine."

"You're going to have to be if you want to survive an invasion into the Underworld. Why are you here, Raven? Say it out, speak what's true to that demon in your heart."

"I… I hate him… I really hate him. I… I want to go down there and beat him to a pulp, take everything away from him because he tried to take everything away form me. I'll punish him… I'll punish him and his servant for everything they've done, I'll make them pay, I HATE THEM!"

"That's right! You do! Is this about friends? About the world?"

"NO! This is between him and me! I'm going to finish this! He doesn't control me!"

The spears retracted. Valentine took Raven by the hand.

"My Queen. You are a true demon. You are ready to challenge your father for the right of his throne."

Valentine fell to one knee, looking up with total prostration.

"And I, you're servant, Valentine, am ready to follow you and assist you in any way I can."

With that, Valentine brought her lips to Raven's jeweled hand.

-

-

-

_Meet me at that library. I'll give you an hour to get ready. Don't bring anything with you, just yourself. Don't worry about me; I'll handle the trip. Just say goodbye to your friends on this realm. I do, after all, understand what it means for you to be leaving this home for who-knows-how-long._

Raven stood in the dark of the Ops room, basking in what she felt would be an eternity before she would come back. A farewell.

They had to know why she was going. So she wrote.

_Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire:_

_I have to leave. I won't be gone for long, but I don't want you to follow me. It's too dangerous where I'm going for any of you._

_You've done so much for me, I can't express how thankful I was to have any of you still with me, but this is something I have to do on my own._

_I know who Slade's working for. His name is Trigon. He's an extremely powerful demon from the Underworld, and he's planning to conquer this realm._

_I'm his daughter._

_He was planning to use me as his portal to enter this realm, because demons can't usually get through the seal that block off the two worlds. It began last birthday. Slade put the inscriptions on me that will activate it at the right time. But I'm not going to let that happen._

_That's why I'm going to fight my father. Only I can do it, because I'm Raven, a demon, daughter of a demon._

_I won't be alone. Someone I don't trust, but who I need is guiding me to Trigon._

_Don't look for me. This is something only I can do._

_I don't know if I'll be coming back, so this is the only chance I've got to say it._

_Thank you,_

_-Raven._

-

-

-

"Heave, ho, D'! Heave, ho!" Valentine commanded to the cowboy, as the majority of the Foundation stood in the car park for the witch's vehicles. Several large crates were beside a bus being loaded, the unfortunate task being given to Devil Hand.

"Dude! This is really heavy!"

"More back into it then! I need this ready before the night is over!"

Terra approached, concerned, "Are you going somewhere, Valentine?"

"Just a short sabbatical! I'll be back, quick as a wink!"

Mr. Freeze entered the chamber at that, "And what is the exact nature of this trip?"

"Nothing really! Just a short camping trip with my Rae-Rae-chan!"

Devil Hand's face made some hilarious contortions of disbelief, "WHAT?"

Valentine dismissed the assertion with a wave, "Daijobou, the Japanese say. She's a trust worthy girl. Besides, it'll be the two of us, so we'll have to rely on each other."

Terra frowned, "Still… I don't trust her very much. She's scary. How long are you going to be gone, Val'?"

"Hmmm… a week, maybe two."

Freeze was quiet, before calmly moving another cylinder to his mouth, smoking it, "Two weeks. No more. You make higher quality cylinders than me. Any longer and I shall have to enact disciplinary measures on you."

"Don't worry, Freezie! Quick as a wink! I'll be sure to bring souvenirs for all of you!" Valentine snickered as she jumped into her loaded bus.

"Bye, Valentine!" Terra waved.

"Remember, stay out of Wisconsin! The people are scary there!" Devil Hand advised, hands cupped around his mouth.

"Remember Valentine. I do not appreciate lateness." Freeze merely warned through his frosting cylinder.

-

-

-

As Raven entered the ancient library, she noticed a glow absorbing the center of the massive stone room.

"Ah! Rae-Rae-chan! You came! Mitte, Mitte!" Valentine squealed as she approached her master, leading her by the arm towards the glow.

In the center of the room, five giant pillars had been raised, flanking the sides of a giant orb, arching machinery swirling about the sides of the glassy sphere while several smaller green globes orbited around it. Below the central orb, a clear pool lay, humming with blue energy at the edges, the surface like a liquid mirror, reflecting the ceiling above.

Settled about the magic machinery were crates and tables, all laid with engraved and rune-cared firearms of all shapes and sizes. Bullets were interspersed everywhere lazily, and computers monitoring the condition of the giant machine lying about.

"Look! Look at all this I brought for you! Pure refined, true quicksilver, the priest Shaft's magic orb, and it's still full of power! I have a real Philosopher's Stone brought here, and it's ticket in! We're ready, Rae-Rae! We're going in!"

Raven looked about her, taking it all in as her servant gushed.

"What's… what's with all the guns? I was kind of expecting to see you bring an army…"

"Rae-chan. The Underworld is a very vicious and nasty place. Bringing ghouls would only be a hassle. They're too dumb and slow for anything down there. And we need guns. They're powerful. When we're in the Underworld, they're going to come fast and strong. The moment you start wasting time shouting out spells, they're going to be tearing you to bits. You can only rely on your own strength now, Rae-chan. And this."

Valentine walked over to the stockpile of weapons and pulled out a smaller handgun, just as rune-carved as the rest. The witch proffered it to her demon.

"I don't use guns."

"You're going to have, to Rae-Rae-chan! Anything to pack a punch! You can't just rely on one weapon forever."

"But if we're going to be gone as long as you say… what about running out of bullets? And I'm skeptical about how strong bullets are against demons."

"You'd be surprised! They are physical matter just like us, so you can blow them apart with enough effort. As for ammo, don't worry! I put all sorts of spells on all the guns. Low-recoil spells, velocity spells, time-loops spells for infinite ammo… Come on, Rae-chan! It's only a forty-five Colt Government!"

Raven sighed, and took the firearm and the holster that was offered.

"Oh yeah, Rae-Rae-chan! Drop the cloak. I got a present for you…"

Valentine whipped out a blood red cape, black spells stitched into both sides of the fabric, a black brooch pinning the cloak-like work together.

"A cape for a queen! It's got a lot of protection spells, so you should be a little safer."

"Does it have to be red?"

"Hey! Red's your family color! Take some pride."

Raven decided to swallow it and accepted the spell-encrusted cape, "What about you?"

"I got something too!"

Valentine pulled on a heavy black coat that stretched over her own form, metal plates bolted onto the outside arms and tail of the clothing. Vibrant green lines wove itself across the black fabric. On the back, spelled out with the same color were the morbid words:

**-Born to Kill-**

"Like it? It's a full metal jacket! And the neat thing is that it has this huge hammerspace in it, so I can put all these guns in here…"

"How many?"

"Dunno. I lost count after seven hundred."

Raven snorted, but watched as Valentine walked over to the pile of guns and shoved more of them into two large rucksacks made of the same fabric as the full metal jacket.

"Do you really need so many guns?"

"Yeah! I'm probably going have all of them destroyed by the time we get back. The Underworld is a really nasty place!"

"I'll take your word for it…"

Hauling the two large sacks over each shoulder and strapping them to each other, Valentine turned around with a smile, "We're ready! Step into the pool!"

The two of them did.

As the stood in the glow of the machine above them, Valentine advised one more time, holding a red stone in her hand.

"Remember Rae-Rae-chan. This is only knocking on Daddy's door, and he's not happy to see his girl come home, and everybody's going to try and shut you out. What are you going to do about it, Queen?"

Raven's eyes darkened under the play of shadows and light about them, "I'll rip my way through. I'll do anything to be free of him."

Valentine grinned, "That's my girl…"

She dropped the stone.

And they sunk through the quicksilver and into world underneath.

-

-

-

**Episode 12: "V For Vendetta: Acte 2" – This is it, Raven. Welcome home. But this is only the beginning; the homecoming party's just begun. Together… together let's give them a celebration they can't forget!**


	12. V For Vendetta: Acte 2

Valentine landed heavily on her feet, while Raven came to a gentle descent with nary a sound. Above them, a pool of red swirled angrily, bathing their immediate location in a gross crimson, not unlike Otherside. The room itself was an inverted imitation of the library, the two of them standing on the upside down ceiling, while floor still held the now red pool, through it, they could see the ceiling of the library of the mortal realm.

"This is the Underworld?" Raven scoffed.

"Sorta. Even though Sparda's Seal is in place, the dimensional fabric is still pretty thin here. This room is only a bridge which we're using to punch through into the Underworld."

Valentine walked over to the inverted double doors that sat high up against the "ceiling" of the room.

"Rae-Rae, could you float the two of us up there?"

Nodding, Raven held up a black burning fist, a dark disk forming underneath the two of them and drawing them up to the upside down doors. With a heave, Valentine pushed hard against the imitation wood, forcing them to open outwards.

And lo, it stretched out beyond them.

The endless wastes.

Valentine tilted her head with a knowing grin, "Welcome home, Rae-Rae-chan."

-

-

-

**V For Vendetta: Acte 2**

**-**

**-**

**-**

The first thing Raven recognized was how… _strange_ the air was. In the realm of light, you could at least say it was hot, or cold, or humid, or anything else. But there was nothing to feel in the air here. It was like there was truly empty space in the atmosphere around them.

It was also dark. Dark not in that there were shadows hiding from light. No, there was no light here. The dark was like that of hiding under your blanket, one that allowed you to see, but at the same time one that seemed to mask everything with an aura of featurelessness, like everything remained just out of touch until you touched it.

There were statues everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Split and fallen, nothing remained in one piece, torsos with their heads nearby, cracked arcades and columns and whole altars and unidentifiable obelisks and rubble that stretched forever into the distance. Even above them, the endless ruins hung upside down from the far away intangible night blue above them that was both sky and ceiling. Everywhere something had fallen from its greatness.

And there was the water. As the two of them stepped out of the doors embedded in one statue, Raven looked down the see endless miles of drowned statues that kept onwards into the blood red abyss. However it worked, the water Raven and Valentine stood on seemed to support their weight as if it were dry ground, though their soles still sloshed with the contact.

Above all, Raven felt uncomfortably comfortable here, as if it were safer here to lie down and fall asleep than anywhere else she'd ever been. Not even her room compared.

Not even Azarath.

"This place is called the Room of the Fallen Ones. It's essentially a hub dimension that stretches on into infinite, but around here there's some portals peppered about that might lead us to Trigon's realm."

"And you know the way?"

Valentine shrugged, "Not really."

"I thought you were an expert in traversing this place." Raven deadpanned.

"Sure I am, Queen, but this is the first time I'm actually walking around here on my own. Whenever my soul got called down on business, God of Time always directed it straight to the realm I needed to be."

"So… we're lost before we even began."

Valentine vigorously waved the accusation off, "No! No! Don't be so negative, Rae-rae-chan! What we gotta do is follow you! You'll probably instinctively know the way!"

"Me?"

"Yeah! Just… concentrate or something!"

"I suppose between the two of us, I'm the only one capable of such a feat."

"You're so mean!" Valentine pouted. Raven merely ignored her servant as she closed her eyes and stretched with her mind to sense… whatever she was supposed to instinctively know.

She faintly began to feel the presence of her father ahead. Raven opened her eyes and turned back, "Let's go."

"Alrighty then!" Valentine cheered, one hand adjusting the grip of the rucksacks on her shoulders, the other fisting into the air.

Approximately five minutes later, they were into their first fight.

Around them, plumes of water exploded about them, until several beasts emerged from their sudden arrival and landed around the pair. They had thick bodies and thin limbs, their flesh ashen pale until the colors mixed into a gory crimson at the limbs and along the spine of their backs, tail, and top of their heads, crowns of horns sprouting from their heads and upper back. In their claws were bloody tridents, with a flaming scythe of energy affixed between the forks.

Raven apprehensively eyed the creatures posturing around them, swinging her eyes one way and the next, "These are?"

"The Abyss. They're fairly commonplace in the Underworld, and can be used by anyone. I suppose your Dad set them up to give us a warm greeting." Valentine haughtily noted, one hand on her hip, before she reached under her thick black robes to pull out a magic scarred FAMAS and a M16 rifle for each hand.

Raven raised an eyebrow, "And we aren't running because…?"

"They can jump after us even if we flew, you know. And you said you wanted to rip your way through." Valentine petulantly argued.

"Fine, we'll clear this group and then get going."

"Hai, hai, hime-sama."

The creatures rushed forward.

Black showered, barrels roared, and life in the Underworld went on its merry way.

-

-

-

"I can't believe she'd just leave like this!" Beast Boy's voice whined over the communicator as all four of the Titans searched the city for their missing compatriot, "I mean, doesn't she get how much we busted our butts on trying to figure out what Slade was after, and she just LEAVES? Dude! Come on!"

Down on the streets inside his car, Cyborg spoke back through his arm, "You have to admit, though, when you're the official end-all of anything, you'd feel a _little_ responsible about the matter. Not that you'd understand anything about responsibility, Grass Stain."

Beast Boy turned into a bull for a few seconds to give out a monstrous snort, before turning back to speak, "I bet that's why she's never in a good mood anyways."

Starfire's voice came though the static next, "Friends, but should we not honor friend Raven's request to not look for her? Not only is this matter personal to her, she should know best, if she is truly of Trigon's kin."

"Dude! You wanna leave her to take on a super powerful demon guy by herself?"

"Well, she did say she was not alone in this endeavor…"

"Yeah, but she doesn't even trust the only guy on her side, whoever it is. She's not exactly in a winning situation, and whether she likes it or not, I'd rather like it if she got some help to even the odds, even if it's a demon she's up against." Cyborg called back.

"But she's in a whole 'nother world! What's searching the city going to do?" Beast Boy honestly wondered.

Robin's voice cut in sharply, "How she disappeared was to abrupt for her to leave the city, so there has to be something in the city that allowed her to go to this other world Raven talked about. We are going to find her, and we _will_ bring her back."

-

-

-

A spinning scythe blade of energy slammed into Valentine's SPAS-12. The sacrifice spell planted on it made sure it absorbed the majority of the blow instead of the Foundation witch, but nonetheless, it was enough to send her back against one toppled statue with a grunt, shattered bits of falling from her fingers.

"Tough, are you? Take THIS!" Valentine sneered through gritted teeth, and produced a gold orb topped with a small crucifix, which she pulled off. Hurling the hissing weapon at the approaching crowd of Abyss, Valentine was please at the sight of the magic explosive tearing the beasts to bits, their unmoving forms sinking back under the red water while she reached into her full metal jacket to randomly grab a pair of likewise rune-scraped mini Uzi's and jumped into fray, firing in two directions at once, until those were quickly destroyed and more guns came out.

Raven handled herself well enough, throwing rubble at high speeds and letting manifestations of Soul Self out from her body as various clawed hands, crushing foes about her.

But the process was irritating her. The moment the current party they were entertained with was finished off, they would only make short progress before more of the Abyss came. Thus, she shouted back to Valentine.

"We're wasting our time! We're going!"

"Coming!" Valentine obediently responded, hurling another smoking gold orb at their pursuers. At the sight of Raven taking to the air, Valentine also pulled out her immense tome and hopped on after her queen. At the sight of the fleeing prey, the surviving Abyss moaned in their echoing voices and leapt after them. Even at the height of several meters, the pair was hard pressed to dodge to flying strikes or blades, while trying to delay them with returning fire and magically toppled statues.

"Can't we just fly higher?" Raven shouted between dodging flight paths. Valentine shouted a big no to that.

"Do you want the guys up there to go after us too?" Valentine shouted back, pointing to the ceiling of broken ruins above them.

"There are demons up there too?"

"The laws of physics aren't exactly solid here, you know-"

An Abyss latched onto the bottom of Valentine's flying book. An AK-74 point-blank promptly took it off. As pursuit wore on through the vast desolation of the Room, Raven felt the presence of her father grow stronger and stronger, until an obvious presence showed itself not far off in the distance.

"Valentine! There!" Raven pointed ahead to an upright glistening surface edged on all sides by intricate metal, giving the appearance of a body-sized mirror, though the inside had no reflection, rather a faint image of domain covered in red, ash, and fire.

"Yeah! That must be the portal into Daddy's personal domain! AGH! Too late!"

Raven looked up in the direction of Valentine's horrified yelp, and saw they had most likely accidentally risen to the altitude Raven's servant had forbidden. Now emerging from the ruins embedded in the "roof" of the room was a quickly enlarging mass of flying demons, contradictorily covered in angelic white bird wings, a stern roman head jutting out of one end of the body, while a single feathered arm clutched blazing blue swords.

"And those are-"

"REALLY, REALLY NASTY! ARGH!" Valentine roared as she brought her armaments upwards firing at the flock. The rounds merely bounced off the wings covering the aerial bodies.

Raven and Valentine took that as a cue to really start running.

Unfortunately, with distance crossed closer to their exit, it seemed that the oncoming surge demonology only got closer to them, while the portal seemed to inch slowly towards them.

"Queen! Heads up!" Valentine shouted, unlatching the rucksacks apart and slinging one off. With a great double-handed heave, the witch had hurled the black sack behind her into the spearing pile of claws, scythes, swords, and teeth.

Instantly, Valentine ripped a M79 grenade launcher and fired it truly into the side of the bag.

Then there was light, as all the beasts surrounding the ignored sack was promptly erased in a magical chain reaction that created an explosion so large it was enough to fling Raven and Valentine yelling into the portal the rest of the way by itself.

-

-

-

They rolled to a halt along the crumbly, uncomfortably warm red stone ground.

Raven was up first, spinning around to look at the portal.

"Ah, don't worry about that, Rae-Rae-chan. They can't come in here. Daddy's presence is too strong for them."

That seemed like enough excuse to lie on the ground panting for a while. Super villains were one thing, but they weren't exactly a wall of unrelenting bestial desire to rip your flesh to bits while you were still alive because it tasted better while you died in fear and agony.

"So… what did you exactly blow up?" Raven gulped down, while she lay upright on her side, propping herself up with her arms while her cape spilled about her.

"Just all the guns… which is a lot of bullets igniting all at once, plus the magic inherent in the guns…plus the shrapnel… oh, and the general dimensional instability that might occur when you explode a hammerspace. Lots of weird physics and stuff, don't ask." Valentine explained, panting on her back.

"Like I even want to know."

"Either way… that was like a thousand different guns I just blew up at once… mou, that's so annoying!"

"For some reason, I'm not surprised you'd say something like that."

"Hmph… you know Raven, you look kinda sexy in that position."

"Shut up."

"Yes, your highness."

There was an unusual comfortable silence, as they lay there, uncaring of the possibility of being attacked while they were off-guard like this.

"Valentine?"

"Naaaani?"

"Why do you do this?"

"Do what?"

"Black magic. Work with demons. And don't say it's for fun. That reason couldn't carry you for so long by itself."

"Family." Valentine simply put it, shutting her eyes in confidence.

"Family?"

"Of course! The Valentine family has always been a bunch of bad eggs. The original family's from England, but my family actually came here to settle in. Of course, it doesn't change anything, no matter how big the ocean is."

"…And all of you do this?" Raven couldn't help but feel sickly amazed at seeing only one facet of a tree of corruption.

"_All_ of us, Rae-Rae-chan. Of course, we all do some things differently, but most of us take it to the magic. Family, and all that, you know? I think over in Britain, a good deal of my cousins are joining in with some magic war on the side of some snakey guy with a nose like this-"

The witch pulled back on her nose with one finger to imitate a flat lack of it, comically revealing two snorting nostrils before she reverted back to normal.

"-And of course, I have my two uncles who decided to become artificial vampires… I wonder what happened to them…"

"What about your immediate family?"

"I decided to strike it out on my own when I was young. Stole my book and hitched it out into the desert. Don't worry! Delinquency is simply family tradition!"

Raven ruefully looked into the distance, "Family…"

"Yeh! We're like totally cut from the same cloth!"

"Perhaps…"

"That's why you need to relax more and like your boiling blood! Nothing wrong with doing what's normal in the heritage!"

-

-

-

When they finally collected enough air out of the impossibly warm environment back into their lungs, the pair tentatively collected themselves off the ground and surveyed their next stretch of the journey.

Lava flows. Nothing but it. The land fumed pyres of ash and sulfur high into the red sky, tongues of flame lighting up from the rivers. From their cliff edge, it seemed that only half-cooled rock structures existed for solid footing, alongside various broken canyons that were struggling to stay afloat in the sea of molten rock.

In the distance was a towering stone column.

Raven already knew what it was, "That's my father's throne room, right?"

"If you're going to make an official statement, we have to fly there. Gosh, look at all that fire… your daddy would be stupid not to have a few Phantoms here for lieutenants…"

Raven batted an eyebrow at her new servant's finger-to-mouth ponderings, but decided to dismiss it.

"Never mind that Valentine, the sooner I can finish up business with my father, the sooner we can leave this place."

"Aww, is Queen getting sweaty?"

"You're one to talk."

"I am! I had cooling spells sewn into our clothing before we left."

"So why did you taunt me if you already knew the answer?"

"Because, you're cute when you get all huffy. I half expect your cheeks to start getting pink dots on them like in anime!"

"…Let's just go already."

The two floated high over the shifting plain of flames, eyes cautiously scanning around them for the next welcoming committee.

Raven felt it first.

_Down Below._

Without even blinking, Raven had already pulled out the Colt Government that had since lain dormant by her hip and swiveled around to squeeze off a shot that felt like nothing at all.

The round impacted against a fireball, prematurely detonating it. As the smoke cleared, Valentine was in awe.

"How did you know!"

"I… just did."

"Maybe you're comfortable here or something…"

"Shush, here they come."

Out from the magma piles a screamed erupted, while _somethings_ exploded from the quiescent surface. It was a swarm of beak-faced floating stony torsos headed up towards them, their trails marked by the bright flames that trailed off the ones that were still scorching their bodies.

"Minions of my father, or just some indigenous demon garbage?" Raven impassively asked.

"Both!" Valentine cackled, as she pulled out a pair of full-sized MP5Ks. Raven joined her thunder with her own magic tempered with the Colt Government. The initial wave was quickly reverted to broken piece of molten rock under the fire, but they served as a remarkable shield for the next group, that opened up their mouths to spit back concentrated jets of flames, which Raven and Valentine only barely fluttered about.

The two parties dueled about the red sky of the realm for a while; trading fire while Raven and Valentine slowly approached the rocky and irregular citadel that formed the core and center of the dimensional plane. As they circled about they seemed to find issues, between the what not of the flaming bird-faced fire demons.

"I don't see a way in!" Raven shouted back to her servant, who was busy ripping through the hoard behind them with a Thompson in each hand.

"What!" Valentine shouted back, trying to hear over the rip-roaring of her handy work.

"I don't see an entrance!"

"Make one, then!"

At the prompt, Raven shut her eyes fiercely for several seconds, trying to reach the heat of hatred within her that she had forgotten.

_I want them gone! I want them to disappear! I wan this stupid place to open up! _**OBEY ME!**

The river of flaming demons was ripped out of its source in the middle of trying to defeat the witch on her floating book. To Valentine's look of surprise, she watched the flow glowing deep black.

Raven, eyes blazing red and insignias crawling across her body, screamed and threw her hands.

The mass of fire demons was directed many miles per hour into the wall of the fortress with no doors, creating a great burst of smoke and an ensuing explosion.

Raven and Valentine lowered the arms that were shielding their faces from the blast as the winds fluttered to a halt. A crumbling hole was slowly widening in the spot where the cumulative power of several hundred pounds of fire demon magic had hammered. Valentine didn't seem overly impressed.

"For something I'd assume to be the base of the big boss… that was too simple to penetrate." She snorted in disdain.

"So that means he's expecting us."

"Daddy wants to settle this personally, huh? Well after you, Rae-Rae-chan."

-

-

-

The inside wasn't what one could exactly call a fortress. At any rate, it was better compared to the inside of an ant nest, endless round passages that seemed to have been formed, rather than carved, throughout the body of the solid stone fortress.

Suddenly, one side of the tunnel opened up into a fanged overhang that exposed the passage to something below. Sensing the potential danger, the two quickly pressed themselves up against the edge of the tunnel wall before it ended, carefully peering around.

Down below was an uneven chamber, two sides of the walls rising up out of a pool of lava, while a single strip of stone stood out from the molten pool and stretched onwards to pass under the half demon and witch's hiding spot, and onto the unknown. What was in view though, was the bridge spreading out onto a small shore that had enough room to hold a giant cast iron double doors that were fast shut, the mark of Scath scored into the metal. On either side of entryway was a pair of hulking gray skinned demons in the guise of a human, wearing large barrel like helmets that completely destroyed any concept of a human head above the shoulders, and each holding a giant flaming pole arm, blades adorning each side.

Raven craned slightly to get a better view, "What's that? Is that the entrance to the throne room?"

Valentine hummed, but quickly dismissed the theory, "Too small. It looks like something for humans and less important demons to handle directly. Something below Daddy's dignity to operate directly… I think this is Daddy's chamber of contracts."

"Contracts?"

"Yeah, whenever you ask for a service from a demon, or vice versa, the eventual reward for either party is kept in there to keep the contract in place. As long as whatever they want is in there, they gotta keep working for it."

"Slade's a servant of my father. His contracts probably in there too." Raven suggested to herself. Valentine turned to look at her at this.

"Slade?"

"An enemy of mine. He's the one that put the portal inscription on me."

"Ah, the suitor. I don't like him."

Valentine expressed this by wrapping her arms around Raven's hips and pouting, "Rae-Rae-chan should date people her own age…"

Raven's eyes flashed an irritant red, "Get. Off."

The servant took that order very seriously, coughing into her hand as she moved on, "Still, you know how a guy like him got a contract?"

"I don't know. He should be dead, though."

"Then Daddy probably gave him a contract to fully restore him to life, and it's in there."

"Hmm… let's get going."

"Yes, Queen."

The pair ducked low and scurried past the guards below, hiding in the shadows cast by the jagged spires lining the edges of the exposed tunnel side until they reached the other side.

"Valentine, you said you have a contract with the God of Time?"

"Yeh?"

"What does he have that you want?"

"Easy. My work is its own reward."

The tunnel in front of them decided to make this a good time to suddenly explode, as a pillar of flame ripped upwards, pulverizing a new pair of exits above and below.

A man floated up from the below one.

"You shouldn't have come here, Raven."

Thick armor, yet not bulky. Heavy padding at the joints, a distinctive tinge around his body from the magic surrounding him. Two tone armor of orange and black, all the way to his armored face, where a single eye and a grate for a mouth showed out.

Raven performed her customary glare-at-villain, "Slade-"

Then Valentine was suddenly throwing an arm around her shoulder, hanging off while pointing a finger at the man, one eye closed in cheerful disdain, "Gomenasi, Oji-chan! Queen was just tearing herself to bits for disobeying you and Daddy's orders! You and I know just how much she wanted to follow orders until her dying breath!"

The single eye narrowed, "And what… are you supposed to be?"

"The servant of Raven. She's going to be the new ninth high princess of the Underworld very shortly."

Slade metallic voice clucked disapprovingly, "My, my, Raven. What sort of ideas has this thing managed to feed you? Images of grandeur and freedom? You can't defeat Trigon. Go back, the only thing you can do is fulfill destiny-"

A bullet sparked off Slade's face, jerking his head back.

Valentine kept her 1911 trained on the other servant's face, "Maybe we should leave the family matters to the family, neh, old man? On the other hand, I'm sure family servants can have banter between themselves…"

The witch tilted her head slowly to her master, "Leave this guy to me. Looks like Daddy's already expecting us, so just go to him. Meet you later."

"Careful. I need you in one piece so we can get back home."

"Hai, hai."

Raven pointed a glare at Slade, "I'll deal with you later."

With that, Raven let her red-caped body turn into the familiar black amorphous mass that swooped through the roof of the tunnel.

Slade made a motion to follow, "This conversation isn't over-"

Another bullet. Slade made sure to catch with his hand this time.

Valentine sneered, "Now, how do they say it again in the shows…? Oh yes…"

Dropping her gun, Raven's servant pulled free two P90s, shaved down to hold pistol grips and large scopes and silencers. Both pointed themselves at the armored figure.

"…Your opponent is me."

"Do you think you can actually beat me?"

"Probably not. Raven wanted to deal with you later anyways, so all I have to do is keep you alive 'till then, yeh?"

Slade's eye narrowed, and the rest of him proceeded to blur forwards, wreathed in flame. Valentine opened up her guns indiscriminately, bullets melting before the heat, and she didn't care.

And he was in her face; flaming palm smashing downwards, guns shoot forward, and the tunnel exploded.

-

-

-

Raven's blackened form emerged from the lava like some sort of demented phoenix pulling from of the ashes, before throwing its head back and emerging as a woman, cape fluttering.

All around her was a chamber that defied proportion. Below her, the massive lake of burning fluid that never ceased to be in the realm. All about her, high walls glowing red, stretching into upwards into a dome darkness.

Before her, a most massive throne, shadows obscuring the upper half of the bright blood red body as it sat, one hand propping its head.

Four red eyes burned into Raven.

"**YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER RETURNED HERE, CHILD."**

Raven snorted, and let her hand have a slight comfort in feeling the gun pressed up against her side.

"Nice to see you too, dad."

-

-

-

**Chapter 13: "V For Vendetta: Acte 3" – The time has come. The old has to go, the new has to come. Come and defeat your father, Raven. Your kingdom is awaiting with bated breath.**


	13. V for Vendetta: Acte 3

Valentine went through approximately three walls before she managed to slow into only "Deep Crater" speed, leaving her embedded into the fourth wall with as much wincing in pain.

"Man… if that won't leave something fractured, I don't know what will…" The girl muttered as she slid off the indentation and rubbed her back.

Slade's armored body was upon her in an instant. Yelping, Valentine instinctively found a long pump-action Remington sliding out of the right sleeve of her Full Metal Jacket and into her hand. Even before she managed to swing the magically lightweight shotgun upward to aim, Slade was in her face, grabbing her implement with one flaming hand and melting it in a single deft squeeze. Snorting, Valentine continued to pull back on the trigger, ruined machinery causing the buckshot inside to misfire and cause the remainder of the shotgun to explode dramatically, scattering shrapnel everywhere, though the sacrifice spell on the gun prevented that sort of damage to its master, only another shattering of a wall and sending Valentine right through.

"Come now, you must be joking if you actually think you can beat me. You may have your fancy toys, but I have_ pure _power." Slade noted through a scornfully narrowing single eye, one hand brushing off soot that was supposed to be the broken gun parts that exploded in his face.

Valentine brought herself up to her feet and tried to nonchalantly dust off her coat, though the action was still painful enough, "Like I'm going to lose to some old fogy ready to drop into his grave… oh wait, you already **did**!"

If there was ever a time when a single eye could look ready to kill a man, Slade did so.

Valentine grinned expectantly at the approaching rush of flames, while she pulled out a Steyr AUG and fired away.

_Rae-Rae-chan… I really hope you go usurp your old man sometime soon, because I'm seriously running out of guns._

And the battle raged on, a trail of shattered metal tracing a path of destruction.

-

-

-

**V For Vendetta: Acte 3**

**-**

**-**

**-**

Amidst the sweltering heat, Raven looked on defiantly at the immense beast that sat upon a natural formed throne from where she hovered. Even in the ill lit environs, light provided only from the brightness of molten rock, she could make out the figures of a white-silver mane of stringy hair, heavy horns sprouting from the side of the reclining beast's head, and four burning red eyes that bored down on her.

"**WHY ARE YOU HERE, SPAWN? YOUR PLACE IS IN THE REALM OF LIGHT, HERALDING MY RETURN." **It, in the distance grumbled, reverberating menacingly across the walls of the chamber.

"I don't care what you want from me." Raven snorted back, instincts she never knew she had filling her with words, arm stretching out of the cape to point at the demon in the distance with her gun, "Trigon, ninth high prince of the Underworld, I challenge you to the right of your throne. Fight me and be destroyed, or leave and live the rest of your days in disgrace."

The returning chortles from the beast on the throne echoed for a nigh-eternity, until it cut short.

"**THIS IS THE REASON OF YOUR RETURN? FOR SOME NOTION THAT YOU CAN CHALLENGE ME? YOUR CREATOR? YOUR FATHER? YOUR MASTER?"**

"It's not a notion, Trigon. It's about to become the truth. I _will_ take that throne."

Ash and pebbles trickled from above as the room shook with its lord's rising. Raven swallowed silently as she watched her skyscraper of a father step into the molten pool about him, wading through the liquid stone that only reached to his knees like it was some kiddy pool. Soon enough, Trigon's massive silhouette towered endlessly above her daughter, his shadow completely burying Raven's form.

Four red eyes glared down onto her.

"**RETURN TO THE REALM OF LIGHT. _NOW_."**

Two eyes narrowed back up.

"No."

"**PITIFUL SPAWN. I NEVER THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE A DAY I WOULD HAVE TO DISCIPLINE YOU!"**

The great demon's fanged maws stretched, revealing a cavern of pure red down onto his child. In moments, Raven was gliding away from the massive beam that erupted from Trigon's mouth, which smashed into the lava below. In response, Raven pointed her sole firearm and blasted away, while a burning black fist, along with red hot burning eyes and body inscriptions, summoned massive dark chunks of stone from the walls around her. Even with boulders the size of Trigon's own chest smashing into him, the hulking red body shrugged it off.

"**IMPUDENCE, CHILD! YOU REALLY THINK A HUMAN WEAPON AND YOUR POWERS WILL TOPPLE ME? WHATEVER FOOL WHISPERED SUCH IDIOTIC NOTIONS TO YOU WILL DIE A HUNDRED TIMES!"**

-

-

-

Slade's fist was not quite at home in Valentine's face, which is why it decided to send the girl drilling through the air, gasping, choking, and sending bits of spittle behind her. As the younger of the servants rolled to a halt, she coughed and quickly reached into her full metal jacket, producing and priming yet another of her explosive gold orbs after she pulled the cross-shaped pin from the main body. Hurling it like a hissing and smoking baseball, the magic bomb went off with a resounding fireworks display on Slade's chest, covering him with smoke.

"Please tell me that at least worked…" Valentine whined.

A voice from the debris coldly spoke back, "It didn't."

Valentine felt the wind knocked out of her as a tongue of flame ripped into her chest, sending her back into a wall. As she slid down with the other broken fragments of stone, Valentine frowned at Slade's emergent form.

"Really now, I didn't think a weapon like that actually exist… a literal holy hand grenade."

"Shows you… how little… you know…" Valentine coughed as she stood up again, brushing the dust of her knees and flipping her hair back arrogantly, "You can only get them direct from Antioch, and here you are, acting like the evil minion of Trigon when you don't know squat about magic."

"Hmph, even now you still talk smart. Do you actually think Raven will win?"

"Why not? She's stronger, faster, _and_ cuter than her Daddy. What about you? What makes you want Daddy to win? The fact he's got a contract over your flesh and blood? Don't tell me you actually believe him. He'll just keep dangling that treat above your head 'til eternity! Sit Slade! Fetch Slade! Get the newspaper-"

Valentine jumped away just in time to dodge a flaming fist that smashed into the tunnel floor with enough force to collapse the entire passage, sending them both falling through the air into the half liquidated chamber below.

"Oh, ho, ho! Did I touch a soft spot, old man?" The witch laughed, as she pried free a Thompson machine gun.

"I don't know how you learned that, brat, but I've had quite enough of your noise-making."

"Then what are you going to do about it, queen?" Valentine sneered back.

Slade blurred forward in a comet of flame.

Valentine unleashed hellfire.

-

-

-

Raven dodged out of the way of Trigon's fist, which would have been large enough to completely sandwich the small girl between it and the stonewall. As the red, meaty knuckles burrowed themselves in cracked granite, Raven threw back one hand and unleashed a torrent of Soul Self from her fist. The resultant blast that smoked off Trigon's shoulder was quickly shrugged off while his four blazing eyes seared into Raven.

"**WHAT WAS THAT? DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CHALLENGE ME WITH _THIS_? WHO DO YOU THINK _GAVE_ YOU YOUR POWERS?"**

At that, Trigon's buried fist ripped out of buried position sideways, sending sizable chunks of stone toward his daughter. That was no problem, though; as Raven's solid body quickly fell apart into an ethereal black bird, sliding through any stone in her path easily.

Then the back of Trigon's hand sent the bird into a wall. Raven groaned as she coalesced into pale flesh once more, and glared at the demon that waded toward her.

"**DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW, SPAWN? YOU OWE EVERYTHING TO ME. YOUR POWERS, YOUR EXISTENCE. I CAN TAKE EACH AND EVERY ONE AWAY FROM YOU AS I WISH!"**

Raven responded in kind by raging out, eyes flashing red like her heritage, while bother her palms fired a thick stream of dark energy into Trigon's chest. All it did was make him stumble backwards somewhat. Rearing back, Trigon craned out his horned head roaring, his four eyes unleashing four red beams that combined into a powerful blast that was quickly met by Raven's own. As the two powers battled each other, Raven could hear her father over the rushing noise.

"**NOW LEARN HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE WITHOUT ME."**

Suddenly the markings appeared all over the Queen's body without her demanding it.

And it burned. Raven arched her spine back and choked back her desire to scream in pain as the red signs burned into her skin. Next thing she knew, the magic suddenly left her hands. A gasp was all she could manage before Trigon's eyes tucked her even deeper in the crumbled rocks she was entrenched in. Smoke poured from the hole as Trigon looked on.

"**YOUR MAGIC BELONGS TO ME. YOUR POWERS BELONG TO ME. YOU CANNOT USURP THE SOURCE OF YOUR EXISTENCE. NOW WHAT WILL YOU DO?"**

A blessed bullet sparked off his brow, causing his eyes to narrow. Raven stood up, tattered but still very much alive, and pointing her Colt Government.

"I can still fly, and I have a gun. That's enough."

-

-

-

"Nine-millimeter? You seem to be running out of guns, child." Slade haughtily noted as his super heated palm sliced through a Beretta 92 that was held by Valentine. In a flurry that followed, the witch quickly discarded her previous weapon to pull out another firearm that lasted only one bullet before being cut apart, and so on, until an incredible lightshow followed, Valentine continuously firing and abandoning ruined guns that Slade powered on through and lashed out with his slashing hands.

It was when Valentine found that she was holding a Single Action Army she realized how screwed she was. A flaming fist in her stomach literally folded her in two over the limb, widening eyes and flying dribble as Valentine hoarsely coughed atop her blunt impalement.

"Out of guns, out of options, and out of time. What's there left for you to accomplish, witch?" Slade pondered to his adversary, as he brought his other hand to grab Valentine by the face and shove her off his fist. The girl tumbled across the ground, folded over her stomach and spluttering a few times, bangs smeared like shadows across her face. With a exhaustive groan, Valentine pushed herself into a seated position, leaned back against surviving stalagmite in the shattered chamber they were in, legs splayed out in front of her, face still sneering.

"Wow, old man… you're really anxious for me to take you out, huh?"

Valentine only managed to roll out of the way of a foot that smashed the stone where her head had just been, Slade's eye glaring, "I suppose it was too much of me to ask even for you to know your place."

The Foundation witch chuckled as she helped herself onto one knee, "I already know mine, but you've gotta learn yours. Guess who's going to give you an intro?"

"If it's you… you're example leaves much to be desired."

"Don't sweat it, old man. I've just had my anime second wind, where I definitely will never lose to a guy like you. Besides, did you know…"

Valentine grabbed the collar of her full metal jacket and pried the entire article off her body in a deft movement, before grabbing the black cloth by the sleeves.

"…That this jacket's reversible?"

Slade's eye widened at the implication, and rushed forward, but too late, Valentine had swung her reversed coat about her body, the written words previously hidden inside now showing bloody red and exposed:

**-First Confirmed Kill-**

Blessed thunder roared.

A rifle round slammed into Slade's body and sent rolling head over heels until he came to a sliding stop. Trigon's servant looked to see Valentine's unleashed monstrosity.

A massive metal cross slammed onto the ground, the device easily as tall as Valentine herself and also scarred all over with magic runes. In the intersection of the crossing bars was an inlaid and elaborate trigger mechanism designed in an imitation of a skull. The bottom slab of the cross, which was dug into the ground, was also split in half, length wise to reveal a hulking barrel that was concealed inside.

"It took me a while to figure out the mechanics to building a weapon like this, but I got it in the end. Careful, gramps, these Punishers are loaded with GOSPELs, and they probably can punch through even your pyromania."

Valentine reached into her inverted coat with her other arm and pulled free another Punisher, and pointed both hulking war engines at the un-amused Slade, "So old man, wanna try guessing how many of these I got stored in my jacket?"

-

-

-

Raven caught her father's eyebeams full on, and was sent barreling into the giant pillar that served chiefly as Trigon's throne. The half-devil slammed heavily on her stomach on a flat slate of rock, clothes scorched, cape tattered. Alongside her was a molten piece of metal that was supposed to be Valentine's Colt Government.

Trigon's massive shadow waded over her.

"**PATHETIC. YOU HAVE NOTHING NOW. SUBMIT YOURSELF TO ME AND RETURN TO THE REALM OF LIGHT, SPAWN."**

"Never… Never! I'm never doing anything for you ever again! You're not my father! You have no hold over me any more!"

"…**I GROW TIRED OF THIS. IT APPEARS YOUR TIME IN THAT MORTAL REALM HAS CONTAMINATED YOUR USEFULNESS. I SHALL HAVE TO JUST START OVER AGAIN."**

"What did you say?" Raven glared, growl rising up in her chest.

"**I SHALL JUST HAVE TO FIND SOME NEW WEAK-HEARTED MORTAL FEMALE… START ALL OVER AGAIN. I SHALL HAVE TO MAKE SURE THE NEXT SPAWN IS RAISED PROPERLY SO IT KNOWS ITS PLACE."**

Raven was on her feet, screaming her lungs out at the creature that rose up above her, "Don't you dare! You do this to another person and-"

"**WHAT CAN YOU DO, PATHETIC, POWERLESS, USELESS, CONTAMINATED DAUGHTER? BUT PERHAPS YOU ARE RIGHT. ARELLA DID SIRE POWERFUL SPAWN…"**

Putrid fangs gleamed with guile.

"…**PERHAPS I SHOULD VISIT HER AGAIN?"**

Raven snapped.

Powered with only her flight and her inherited rage, the queen seared through the air toward Trigon, hands clawed and teeth bared. She may have had no magic, no gun, no allies, but Raven would be damned if she didn't scratch her father's eyes out for even thinking of-

"**I HAVE NO USE FOR YOU ANYMORE. BE BUT ASH AND DUST."**

Halfway into the air toward her father, Raven realized she was at the beck and call of gravity again. Her face contorted into shock before her cape slapped into her face, and she was suddenly flailing downward, limbs kicking and screaming. As the magma down below approached, Raven realized this was it for her.

_I failed you all…_

Trigon decided to take the time to laugh at his former daughter's despair and destruction.

He was promptly interrupted by a mixture of sonic blasts, starbolts, and freezing birdarangs.

As for Raven, she found herself suddenly caught up by another bird, swinging through the air by a grappling line. As the two tumbled to a halt back onto Trigon's formed mountain of a throne, the demon of the pair screamed.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? Why did you follow me! ANSWER! NOW!"

"We came because you were in trouble, Raven! How could you run off by yourself like that!?" Robin retorted with just as much frustration.

"Trouble? This is my problem, Robin! I'll handle it! How – how did you even manage to get all the way here!?"

Behind them, Trigon roared in surprise as Starfire broke something akin to a Mig Firefox's Mach 6 while on a warpath into the arch demon's knee pit. The blow even by the proportionally diminutive alien was enough to send Trigon backward into the magma pool, burying him under heated stone. With the lull, the remaining titans gathered about their missing member.

"It took us a while, but we found that portal in the library." Cyborg explained.

Raven's eyes widened, "And you just… _followed_ me? How could you even get here, any normal human would have…"

"You forget, friend, that we are not exactly just 'normal'." Starfire ruefully noted from beside.

"Yeah! I mean, come on, Raven! We're all the Teen Titans, right? Don't you trust us?" Beast Boy also argued.

"I… I didn't want to get any of you involved in this…"

Cyborg snorted, "Involved? Raven, we're your friends! I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let one of my friends run off into a million-to-one odds by herself just because she decided by herself her buddies weren't up to it!"

"But it's true! Do any of you realize how powerful Trigon is-"

"Raven."

The queen pulled her cape closer to herself and lowered her head at Robin's single word, "I know."

"We've always stood beside each other, no matter how difficult it seemed. Why should this time be any different?"

"I just can't have you getting in danger over me. I'm the portal; it's my entire fault. I have to solve it."

"Yeah, well it's not like it's the first time I decided not to listen to you." Beast Boy smirked.

"Yeah, a problem with one of us is a problem with all of us, and we'll take it out with a grand-slam booyah." Cyborg grinned.

"Yes, we would never leave you just because of the danger." Starfire added.

Robin held out his hand, "So, want to do this as a team?"

The magma behind them exploded, a red-hot demon roaring in hatred.

"**PATHETIC, PITIFUL, MORTAL WHELPS! YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME? MORE WEAK ALLIES FOR MY USELESS SPAWN? I SHALL DESTROY YOU!"**

"Normally, I'd love to help, but he's kind of sealed my power at the moment." Raven deadpanned

"Then we'll just take it from here." Robin put it simply.

A birdarang snapped to ready.

"Titans, GO!"

-

-

-

Valentine let herself fall through the vertical shaft, her Punishers spraying blessed rounds upward after the pursuing Slade, who managed to nimbly swing around every salvo that was directed after him. Before she knew it, the younger of the servants slammed her back onto a wooden surface, sending splinters-

Wait a second.

_Wood?_ Valentine frowned as she threw herself onto her knees. She had since completely left the shaft the battle had been taking place in, and fallen into a quick flowing and enclosed river of molten rock. Rather than simply just being burned away in an instant, Valentine found that she had crashed onto some hefty wood barge, blackened and rotted by heat, age, and disrepair. Obviously some magic or enchantment made sure the ship wasn't following its natural course of logic to be cooked away into nothing, and because of it, the weary ship sailed down the heated river.

"What's a ship doing here?" Valentine muttered. She had landed on the elevated aft of the unmanned barge, narrowly missing that hot dive she was supposed to have had. Turning to look forward, she found the entirety of the shallow deck supporting several cages of various sizes, stacked atop each other, bars clattering, poor souls inside screaming for freedom.

"Cages? No… _contracts._" Valentine grinned to herself.

She was on a ship that was ferrying contracts, meaning this was going…

A plan formed in her head. If she did this correctly-

The wood behind her exploded with cursed flame. Valentine swirled around to find Slade fast approaching through the air, body alight.

"Take THIS!" Valentine sneered; swinging her cross-shaped guns upward so that they rested on her shoulder, the long machine gun arms snapping shut, while the top arms split open, revealing red warheads…

Two rockets pulled away from Valentine's position in tandem, flinging smoke onto her as they spiraled through the air toward Slade. Fists ablaze, the deader of the two servants righted himself for a second to smash a palm into one missile, exploding it harmlessly, as well as the next. With pieces of steel and spent explosive falling about him, Slade blurred forward before Valentine could reload, catching the girl and most of the aft deck with a human cannonball, scattering shattered planks and a witch through the air, though the girl found herself uncomfortably slamming into one of the piles of cages, spilling the cubic prisons everywhere.

Kicking and shoving a cage away that was digging into her side, Valentine rose, her Punishers as machine guns once more as streams of tracers chased Slade, even as he slipped away behind the hull as cover, rifle rounds ripped through the ship, while flaming gouts and punches tore back as much in return.

The ship quickly crumbled, leaving little when it finally hit the shore. Even that exploded, Valentine shrieking and rolling across the ashen ground, while Slade descended.

"You're persistence is admirable, if futile." Slade hummed with faint disinterest.

"You keep saying that! Stop it! It's annoying! I mean, yeah, I know I'm not exactly a kung-fu genius or whatever, but that's because of only one thing." Valentine retorted, guns rising to draw a bead on her opponent.

"Which is?"

"I am always a businesswoman first." Valentine accentuated with a slight jerk of her head to the side.

Slade scoffed at the idea, but decided to look out of the corner of his eye at what the witch wanted him to look at.

The pair stood beside a pair of massive steel double doors engraved with the Mark of Scath. Two bulky gray-skinned guards with barrel-like helmets and axes with blades on both ends directed invisible looks at them disapprovingly.

Slade's eye widened in realization, "This is…"

"Trigon's contract room. I'm sure we can work out some deal, neh, Slade?"

"I already have a deal."

"With enough strings attached to make your own puppet-show? I didn't think of you for the type to take orders. Come on admit it, the only reason why you're working for Daddy is because he's got your life, right? We're both parties with something to gain from Trigon. Why can't we help each other, hmmm?"

"And what do you suggest?"

"I help you break the contract, and you get back whatever Trigon's dangling above your head. When you do, you have no reason to follow him; hence you leave me and Queen alone, and go your jolly way. What say you, Mr. Slade?"

"…A very interesting proposition, and much more sensible than my master's, Ms. Valentine." Slade's eye seemed to gleam with amusement.

The two gray guards stomped forward with protest, **"You dare not betray your master, or we shall see to your destruction. Honor the contract, mortal."**

A flaming fist and a Punisher swung around to aim at the demons.

"You get me back my contract, and I'll be out of here, Ms. Valentine." Slade promptly restated.

"I like men who speak direct! Very well, Mr. Slade. It's a deal." Valentine grinned.

The two demons lifted their axes and charged the duo.

Fire. Thunder.

-

-

-

Raven watched, fingertips digging into her palms in fear while Robin darted about on Trigon's body, sabotaging whatever he could. Starfire flew above, dancing around furious swings and eye beams to return starbolts. Flying in high wide circles was Beast Boy as a pterosaur once more, while Cyborg rode on, tracing Trigon's body with continuous streams of sonic blasts.

_Come on, please! I know you can do this!_

Starfire was first. Flying about a swinging limb left her right in front of Trigon's gaze. It carried her all the way to the 'throne' on a river of red with enough force to send large stones crashing about Raven, who looked up to see only the legs of her friend awkwardly sticking out of a smoking hole above her.

"No…"

Cyborg and Beast Boy didn't last much longer. With Starfire no longer able to distract the great demon, they were found easy targets for a massive multi-ton fist that contacted them at several miles per hour. They came crashing by Raven next.

"No!"

Robin continued to do his best, even though all four eyes of Trigon were now solely dedicated to catching the annoying little creature that was dancing around on his body. As the Titan tried to leap away to safety, Robin's body was quickly enveloped by Trigon's grip.

"**WRETCHED, INSIGNIFCANT MORTAL. I HAVE TOLERATED YOUR EXISTENCE LONG ENOUGH."**

Trigon squeezed.

The scream of pain could be heard all the way to the rocky 'throne' where Raven watched helplessly. Eyes shut in anguish as she shouted out.

"NO!"

_LET HIM GO!_

Robin disappeared. Both demons present visibly jerked in shock as to what happened, before Raven heard the unceremonious noise of a body dropping to the ground behind her. Twisting around to see her leader for a moment, Raven turned her confused eyes down to her hands.

_How did I…?_

Trigon's eyes narrowed for a second while he opened his fist. Turning to the party collapsed across his royal seat, the demon murmured.

"**INTERESTING. IT APPEARS SOME FRAGMENT OR IMITATION OF MY POWER HAS BEEN TAKEN AS YOURS. BUT NO MATTER, I AM YOUR CREATOR; IN THE END I AM YOUR ALL, SPAWN. NOW, IT IS TIME TO DISAPPEAR FOR GOOD."**

Eyes blazed in unison, and Trigon roared as he unleashed the full strength of his eye beams, set on completely demolishing his seat and everything on it.

Raven looked head on into to oncoming blaze, one single thought ringing true above all previous of revenge, or usurption, or of freedom-

_No more._

The beam broke apart in front the throne, a massive white shield of Soul Self defending it. Trigon raged, but no matter how much more strength he put into his attack, the defense held up until the demon exhausted himself.

The shield fell, leaving Raven behind, serene and sure, torn cape and everything else turned bleach white.

"**PITIFUL SPAWN-"**

Bleached magic smashed into Trigon's stomach, forcing him back.

"No more. I tire of your constant tyranny over my life, and I tire your endangering what is precious to me. My life, my friends, my _family._"

"**DO NOT-"**

Trigon took the next blow to the face, knocking him back into the molten sea. Raven took to the air slowly, surely.

"I am no longer submit to you, Trigon the Terrible. I am Raven the Titan, and I usurp your position and authority as the Ninth Prince of the Underworld. Azarath. Metrion-"

Trigon shot forward, fist outstretched, **"I SHALL NOT LOSE TO YOU!"**

Raven just gave a cool look that spoke volumes of emotion in simple two words.

_I win._

"Zinthos."

The throne room was enveloped in Soul Self bleached clean of the controlling taint, forces ravaging the massive red demon into a silhouette amongst the bright lights, until he was but a shadow that broke up under the glare.

And the room was empty and silence, save for the low rumble of molten stone.

And the cheering Raven was met with as she floated back onto the massive stone seat, where her _family_awaited.

"Booyah! You did it!"

"You totally kicked his butt, Raven!"

"We are victorious once more, dear friend!"

"Looks like you made it."

Raven smirked and refused to duck her head. Embarrassment wasn't her thing, "It was thanks to all of you."

The wall at the end of the throne room behind them exploded at a particular section.

"Queen! I'm here to save your cute self!" Valentine cheered through the smoke as she stood in the opening, a strapped Punisher hanging from over her shoulder with one hand.

The Titans gathered around confusedly, but not less ready for one more fight.

"Valentine." Robin growled, ready to throw out a 'Titans, go'.

Raven's hand waved him off, "It's alright. She's my servant."

Beast Boy wasn't sure what face to make at that revelation, "WHAT?! She actually listens to YOU!?"

Raven sighed, "Yes. She does. At the moment, anyways."

In the distance, Valentine made a pout of discontent, "I missed all the fun already? Mak-taku…" Reaching into her coat, she threw out her thick grimoire, setting it into to air for the witch to transport herself toward her Queen. Still, Valentine made sure to float out of arm's reach of the other Titans, at the very least.

"Queen! You did it! You're the Queen! I'm so proud of you! You feel any different?"

"…Better."

"Sou ka? Well, I suppose you can't put _everything _into words."

"I suppose. What happened to Slade?"

Valentine ignored the various utterances of the dread man as she thought hard to herself, especially those from Robin, "Hmmm… I took care of him, but we haven't seen the last of him either, though."

"Really."

"Really! So Queen, what's your next move as one of the newest high rollers of the Underworld?"

"I'm going back home."

"Eh? Aren't you already home?"

"No. This place is the last place I'll call home. Trigon is finished, the Prophecy won't continue. That's all that matters."

Valentine whined, "What? What happened to all that before about usurping Daddy and doing everything only for yourself? That's where a demon's strength comes from…"

"You're right. That's where a demon's power comes from. That's where Trigon's power comes from. However…"

Raven threw out a minute display of power, obviously dazzling Valentine, given her stupefied look.

"…_my_ power comes from protecting my friends."

"Really… protecting your friends…"

Valentine grabbed an armful of Raven's white cape, and proceeded to squeal and cuddle it, "Raven! You're such a mahou shojou! You're so totally kawaiiiii-"

"Stop it."

"Yes'm, Highness."

"I'm returning to the Realm of Light. Is there any way out from here? Or do we have to go back to the library?"

"Actually, there's a portal room at the top of this anthill. You can probably return to Jump City from there."

"Fine. Coming?"

"Actually… no. I have to do some cleaning up here, Queen. Besides, the moment I'd get back topside, you guys probably would arrest me!"

"Since you're my servant, technically I could order you to do that, right?"

"True but like you, I'd defy all orders if it means protecting what's precious to _me_. Right?"

Raven smiled for a second, before quashing it with a serious look, "I'll get you for sure the next time I see you."

"Sure you will. You're the Queen."

With that, Raven enveloped all the Titans within a white Soul Self, bringing the entire spectral bird shape upward and out of sight.

Valentine looked upward, "Well then, that's that."

"**Trigon is dead?"**

The witch turned about to see a swarm of burning demons pouring into the throne room. She smirked.

"Yep, the King's dead."

"**Long live the King. Who is the new Prince?"**

"Raven the Titan, formerly the Spawn and Portal of Trigon the Terrible."

"**Raven the Titan is our new lord. Raven inherits control of the Prophecy. What say Raven?"**

"Well, you don't exactly want to activate the Prophecy when the portal IS the new ruler, right?"

"**Truth is spoken. The Prophecy shall not be fulfilled. But you are a human. Where is Raven, our new lord?"**

"The Queen's gone up into the Realm of Light to handle the affairs up there. I am Valentine, her trusted lieutenant and servant…"

Valentine's grin only got wider.

"…And she entrusted me to be her acting Regent until further notice."

"**We felt your presence as you fought alongside our new lord in this castle. Truth is spoken."**

Valentine stepped lightly onto the massive empty throne and sat down on the edge, legs dangling.

"So then, bow."

All the fiery forms lowered their heads in front of a grinning Valentine.

"**Truth is spoken. Valentine, the trusted servant, is to be acting Regent for Raven the Titan."**

"It's good to be the Queen."

-

-

-

The elevator doors opened up into the observatory room in Olympus Height, letting in Valentine and her million-dollar smile.

"Minna-san! Tadaima!" Valentine cackled happily as she stepped back into her old haunts.

Devil Hand and Terra poked their heads over the couch and their heated game of Day of Sagittarius.

"Val'! You're back!"

"Valentine!"

"D'! Achey-Breaky! Did I come back in two weeks like I promised?"

Devil Hand shrugged and adjusted his sunglasses, "I dunno. Lost count."

"Figures. I got souvenirs, though!"

Terra jumped to her female comrade at that, "Really! What?"

Valentine reached behind her, "Check it out… DEMONIC PUMICE ROCK!"

Terra raised an eyebrow at the porous stone, "It looks the same…"

"Believe me! I picked that up in the fires of hell itself! Oh, I also got something for Freezie!"

Valentine pranced back toward the elevator, serenading 'Freezie' until Devil Hand stopped her.

"Boss ain't here."

"Nani? Why's he not here? He usually doesn't go out."

Devil Hand remained indifferent as he fired away at enemy spaceships, "Dunno. But he's been going out a lot these nights now."

Terra hummed to that mystery, "He did start going out a lot while you were gone, Valentine… maybe it's because of that girl Freeze met-"

Valentine snarked.

"_**WHAAAT!?"**_

-

-

-

Red hair shifted, "You came. And you brought flowers!"

Blue eyes remained in different, "Only because you demanded them. What are they for?"

"No reason really."

"How pointless."

"You've been coming for something pointless so many times, already. How's a bunch of flowers going to make a difference?"

"Hmph."

"Still, I'm happy you came to see me. Can we go, Freeze?"

"Very well, Nora."

-

-

-

**Chapter 14: "No30746047607)&)&)YOIHDBBLNBEJ934H)(&(#EBSGSLHGERIO)(&#HG3OTN4EBGIB)#G0GHE**

**FNQWG9H40HYGER9G j(#$ht)$whygeNG SNG4409GH40WBGASEI POEHG094HG049BGNGaEGOEVOPSBNPWB**

**NVIOEB GB9H3T-94HG-9H(h$(G-9HG;NVS JG4GHAHGTTapaj(3YT N(#Yt09y P9y(ptyh3P9TH9P#g Tp94gbP#AHF#**

**Person With Many Aliases is stupid. I mean, I am stupid. Because I am Person With Many Aliases, and not Control Freak. Because Control Freak is not stupid. He's really Awesome. Like, AWESOME. Anyways, because I am so stupid and I write such stupid stories, I'm giving this story over to Control Freak, because he is really so Awesome, and he's going to make this story so really cool. So next chapter, prepare for**

"**A MUCH BETTER STORY" by SUPER AWESOME CONTROL FREAK BECAUSE HE IS AWESOME.**


	14. much better story lol by Control Freak

Teen titans and villains belong to Control Freak, 'nuff said.

(The intro music to teen titans plays)

(A/N: And the story starts here)

it was a beautfil day in jump city. The sun was shining and the flowers and everything was out, and it was one of those happy happy days in which nothing happens. Up in the observatory thing that belonged to the foundation villains, they were spending time chilling.

Valentine is making zombies or whatever evil magic, Freeze is chilling, D' and Terra are playing video games trying to beat each other. Lucky Clover also is sleeping nearby.

Mr. Freeze gets up "Let's go rob a bank" he says.

Everyobdy goes "okay!!!"

since valnetine isn't in the same room as the other 3, they go to valentine's factory where she is making zombies.

"Hey valnetine, were going to rob a bank, go warp us there." freeze ordered, because he is the boss.

"Yeah." The other two guys go.

Valnetine huffed, "no wai, I'm too busy making zombies."

"that's an order." freeze ordered.

"Fine." Valentine said.

meanwhile, on the edge of the city, a man wandered in, head turned down with a hood over his head.

Back to the foundation, they had warped to the bank and scared everybody off with their superpowers (or for valentine, her zombie soldiers that were armed with laser guns (A/N: They should have laser guns. Their cooler.)

so anwways, after they stole everything out of the vault (A/N: Actually, do they rob banks? They usually don't, do they? Well, they do in my story) the front doors of the bank blew in.

Out of the smoke the teen titans stood idiotically (with their smarmy poses and everything. Starfire's hot)

"WERE TAKING YOU DOWN FREEZE!!!!!" Robin shouted.

"NO WERE GONNA BEAT YOU!!!!!" Freeze shouted back.

"TITANS GO!!!!" Robin shouted.

"ATTACK!!!!" Freeze shouted back.

Freeze shot his ice, and Valentine got her zombies to start shooting and terra threw rocks and stuff. Devil Hand punched people or something. The titans, on the other hand, robin threw his boomerang things and beast boy turned into a gorilla and started fighting, and raven and starfire started shooting with their powers. (A/N: Yeah, starfire's REALLY hot)

"Kuso!!!!!" Valnetine swore as she watched her side loss. Cuz they suck.

It looked like they were really going to lose this time, when all of a sudden, the ceiling exploded.

"What was that?!??!" Robin shouted smoke went everywhere. Out of the smoke, a man stood up.

He had firey orange hair and dark handsome rings under his eyes, and he was something like six feet, and he had tough muscles and handsome face, and he had an exquisitely designed brown trenchcoat that was frayed from constant use, which fluttered in the wind, and he had this red plated shirt that had black highlights (A/N: Just think of the armor Archer uses in Fate/Stay Night) and these pants with really wicked flame designs on them. Holstered all over his waist were a bunch of black devices.

"who are you?!!?" Robin shouted to this new guy.

"You fools! You dare challenge me!" the new guy went.

Cyborg went "booyah" around here and shot him with his lasergun, but the new guy used his remote control and made it stop in mid-air! Robin was like, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?" but the new guy used another remote and froze them all.

"I will be merciful this time, but be sure to leave these guys alone." The new guy said, but not before winking at Starfire, who blushed.

"What do you want from us?" Freeze asked suspiciously.

"I need your help." The new guy said, before he teleported everybody back to the foundation HQ.

"omg he is sooooo KAWAII!!!!" valentine said blissfully at the new guy.

"So who are you and what do you want from us?" freeze asked.

"I have many names, but you may call me Control Freak. I need ur help to help me find the dangerous shadows cystrals of power. I came from another dimension to try and get them back before something bad happens."

"I dont trust you." Freeze said, but he was actually jealous of Control Freaks powers since they were cooler than his.

"Come on, freezie-kun, He's alrright!!!!!" Valnetine said.

"Fine he can stay, but i still don't trust him." freeze said.

That night, Devil Hand picked a fight with Control Freak, but he won because his kung fu powers were a lot better htan Devil Hands. The next day, the group went to the dessert nearby the city.

"I sense one of those crystals nearby. Let's go get it!!!!" Control Freak said.

"Whatever. I'll get it before you do." Mr. Freeze said back nastily, because he is so very jealous of Control Freak.

So Freeze went off by himself, while valentine went with Control Freak, and D' and Terra went somewhere as well, and they all looked for the crystal.

"Control Freak, why are you looking for these crystals anyways?" Valentine asked.

"Those crystals destroyed my home world, and I am the only survivor!!!! I am all alone, and it it my job to get my revenge on those crystals. I have lost everything!" Control Freak said mournfully.

Valentine was sad, too.

Eventually, Freeze found the crystal first, stuck on on high rock.

"Yes!!!! If I find the crystal first, I can make Control Freak look stupid" Freeze snickerd to himself as he went for the crystal, but it was too high. All of a sudden, the teen Tiatns revealed themselves:

"Ah-ha! We knew you were really after the crystals so we set a trap! Titans go!" Robin shouted.

All the titans attacked with their powers, overwhelming Freeze. But before they could capture him, Control Freak and valentine appeared.

"Leave this to me, Val! I'll save Freeze!" Control Freak said.

"Titan's go!" Robin shouted again. This made Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy attack Control Freak, but he used his super laser beams to blast them away.

(A/N: these laser beams could have ripped thru the fabrik of reality, you know. Just that Control Freak decided not to at that point.)

"Freeze! Get the crystasl! Ill hold them off!" Control Freak shouted.

"Right!!!!!" Freeze shouted back. Jumping up, freeze got the crystal. They began to run away. "I'll go after them!" Starfire shouted, and chased after Control Freak and the others. But they had already teleported away because of Valentine, but Control Freak stayed behind.

"I dont want to fight u!!" Control Freak pleaded. Starfire was confused, but she continued to try and fly and shoot Control Freak. But Control Freak has a special power that allowed him to reflect all the shots with a special sheild, blasting starfire back instead. Before she fell to the ground, Control Freak flew through the air and caught her in mid air. Starfire blushed and asked "Why did you save me?"

"Because I dont want to fight u" Control Freak said quietly. Starfire blushed harder. Control Freak also told her of his tragic past, and how he had to find the crystals.

"So were doing the wrong thing then!!!!!" starfire realized. "Don't worry Control Freak!!!!! I'll tell robin that hes making amistake fighting you, since ur doing the rite thing!!!!" starfire said.

"thank you for helping me" Control Freak said. He then returned back to the foundation base.

"thankyou for saving me!!!! I trust u now!!!! ur now part of the team!!!!" Freeze said.

That night, they all played videogames. Control Freak was the best in them all.

The next day, they teleported themselves to the beach.

"a crystal is buried here somwhere. Help me find it!!!!" Control Freak said. So they split up and started looking for it. All of a sudden, the titan's car showed up, and the titans came out.

"Titans go! We wont let you get those crystals!" Robin shouted. He didn't listen to starfire because he thoguht he was right.

"No!!! WE have to protect Control Freak and let him complete his quest!!!!" Mr. Freeze shouted. Everyubody else was like "Alright!!!!!"

They all fought very hard, robin through his boomerangs and freeze shot his ice and valentine shot with her zombies and d punched stuff and terra thru rocks and cyborg went booyah and shot stuff and beastboy transformed and stuff.

But where was starfire?!?!?!?!

The foundation and Control Freak began to be pushed back by the titans and their powers, when all of a sudden starfire shot at her own teammates!!!!!"

"OMG! Starfire what are u doing!?" robin shouted angerily!!!!!

"Control Freak is more of a man then u will ever be!!! I will help him!!!!!" starfire said.

"Traitor!!!!!" robin shouted.

With Control Freak and starfire working together, they were able to make the titans go away. All the foundation guys celebrated with pizza and made starfire another member.

The next day they all teleported somwhere in the city.

"There is one more cyrstal in the city. Help me find it!!!!" Control Freak said.

All the guys started looking for the crystal on the streets, but the titans showed up again.

"Titans go-"

"THIS IS BLASPHEMY! THIS IS MADNESS!"

Those present in the virtually uninhabited streets turned to look at the sudden intruder.

Down a block or so, a man stood. He was clad predominately in black and white, unlike the various skittles that were the Titans or the Foundation, or even Control Freak. He wore form-fitting black pants that terminated abruptly into a pair of like-wise hued boots. Though his white and completely zipped jacket looked looser, the sleeves still clung to the shape of his skinny arms with many crinkles, with hands that wore fingerless gloves. Most bizarre of all, though, was the mask he wore. It looked like an oversized bandanna, tails of excess fabric trailing down to the lanky man's ankles, while the head cloth was pulled down to the bridge of the man's nose. Little eye holes were made apparent by the man's almost florescent blank eyes that looked through rather cheerfully. In his wide grin a long black toothpick was clenched.

"Alright! I'm sorry! 300 is overused, but I couldn't help it and- DON'T HURT ME!"

The man wailed and ducked down, covering his head with his hands.

Control Freak frowned, "And who are you supposed to be!? I don't recall you ever being in my story!"

The man raised his head with a rather accusing, though still comical look, "Your story? This is my story! I had to self-insert myself back into my own story! How humiliating is that! This my story! THIS IS SPAR- Oh, wait. Sorry."

At that, Control Freak, still looking rather muscular and suave as he described himself, attempted to make all sorts of intimidating martial arts stances, "Do you know who I am!? I am the Master of Monsters! The Terror beyond your greatest imagination! The Manliest Man Alive! CONTROL FREAK! Fear my Swan! Tiger! Dragon! Flying Sword!"

The supposed original writer of the story also power posed, "Do you know who I am!? I am the Crazy Canadian! The Purveyor of Love and Justice! The Obliviously Untouchable! PERSON WITH MANY ALIASES! Tremble before my Swan! Monkey! Drunkard! Champuru Kendo!"

"Hwah!"

"Aiiie!"

"Hyah!"

"Bwah!"

Control Freak backed away, sweating in nervousness at the miraculous and awe-inspiring techniques performed by his latest arch-nemesis. He quickly turned to the Teen Titans, who were currently in a vegetative, zombified state due to the neglect of proper characterization by Control Freak.

"My minions! This man wants to steal my crystals! Help me stop him!"

"BOOYAH!!!!" Cyborg said.

"TITANS GO!!!" Robin shouted.

"AZARETH METRION ZINTOS LOL!!!" Raven chanted.

"DUUUUDE!!!" Beastboy said before turning into a trex.

"FOR CONTROL FREAK!!!!!" Starfire said.

Person With Many Aliases snarked at the approaching superpowers, before snapping his fingers, "Will! Word! Foundation Character Override! Back up Set up!"

Nearby, the generally unnoticed Foundation members suddenly collapsed. Valentine was the first to awake.

"Mou... Geez, I just had the weirdest dream..."

The others came to shortly as well.

"A most disturbing vision... the Starfire actually joining our ranks...?"

"I think my head's gonna blow..."

"Boss... does nobody love me...? Am I just a supporting character...?"

Their inquiries were cut short when they suddenly were treated to a sort of mentally-dumbing image of some tall freak in a bandanna wailing in high-pitches while the Titans chased him about with sonic beams, gnashing prehistoric teeth, magic, birdarangs, and starbolts.

"HELP ME! I'M JUST A SCV!" Person pleaded as he zipped by his own 'kids'.

Mr. Freeze wasn't exactly about to help him, but the sight of his non-federal local crime-prevention agency bearing down on them in rather tranced state wasn't too reassuring either. Hence, Freeze snapped out his lighter, burning out a thick ice-wall in front of them. It was quickly reinforced by another wall of solid rock summoned by Terra.

Person With Many Aliases slid to a halt near them, seeming no less of breath despite all the running. Insanity had its perks.

"Okay I'm gonna say this in one breath as fast as I can or else the story will have a chance to describe those guys breaking through your wall I've gotta take care of Control Freak over there because he's the cause of this mess and unless you wanna live the rest of your life in a out of character horribly stale story telling and lots of ill grammar you gotta help me keep those guys away while I take care of the boss but you'll have to shout out your attacks because the physics in this story is messed up and if you have any questions on how to do that just follow Valentine's lead-"

"Sweet! I'm in an anime!"

"DON'T INTERUPT ME!"

Too late. The wall shattered at the same point Person screamed his horrified phrase. But as the Titans poured out of the cracked defense, they were already being pushed back by Valentine, who was quickly not figuring things out besides, "I'm in an anime!"

"Dragon Flame!"

Valentine's grimoire, also currently being re-adapted in this chapter to be called "Grimorum Arcanorum", conveniently made itself apparent and proceeded to spit flame that forced the zombified Titans back.

"Everybody! Shout the first thing that comes to your mind as you attack! Trust your heart!" Valentine suggested. Freeze was tempted to say he had lacked presence of such a thing, but decided against it as Devil Hand and Terra joined in.

"Shockwave!"

"Concrete Wave!"

"An attack denoted aloud by Mr. Freeze."

As the Foundation and the Titans clashed, Person cheered unhelpfully, "Excellent guys! I'll take the big boss from here! Hmm... Big Boss..."

Leaving the explosions behind him, Person raced down the streets to meet Control Freak, who smugly awaited him.

"I see you've made it past my loyal fan base by making use of yours... but your powers are not match, against mine! Especially those augmented by the legendary Space Samurai of Warp Trek: The Legend Continues!"

At this, Control Freak swirled about impressively, in his hands a double-bladed laser-sword staff. Person scoffed.

"You dare challenge the powers of my Authorhood? I too, am armed with a sacred device that has been passed down for... actually I'm the first one, right? Never mind! Will! Word! Anti-Everything, Get your Set Up to Stand By and be Ready already!"

Prying the toothpick free of his mouth, the black splinter quickly enlarged until it was a long rod of its own, which Person also flipped about in a hectically impressive series of forms.

"You dare challenge Control Freak!"

"I so dare challenge you!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really!"

"Oh really?

"Yeah really!"

"Oh really?

"Yeah really!"

"NO WAY!"

Control Freak and Person With Many Aliases laughed whole heartedly for several second before they sheepishly coughed.

Awkward silence.

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A HOKEY-MONSTER BATTLE!" Person screamed, finger pointed heroically.

"I ACCEPT!"

"CHOOSE YOUR HOKEY-MAN!"

"I SUMMON THE MOSTLY WHITE DRAGON WITH BLUE CONTACT LENSES!"

The giant, scaly winged beast dropped down from the sky in front of a cackling Control Freak. Person backed away, somewhat shocked by the roaring creature.

"Are you scared, little one! I'll show you whose the greater writer of this story!"

Person sniffed,"Ametur! So you may have a power Hokey-man, but since I am the aggressor and antagonist in your eyes, and since your currently in control of this story, I call the right to summon a more visually impressive and statistically more powerful beast! Koi, SHAGOHAD!"

A semi-bipedal tank smashed into the street before Person, forcing Control Freak to gasp in horror.

"Not the same one!"

Person With Many Aliases laughed atop his vehicle, "The very same! Controlled by the Kuwabara Thunderbolt himself! Armor impenetrable by even an RPG! Only a motorcycle and a bridge can defeat my Hokey-man! Insert malicious laughter HERE!"

Control Freak's fist shook, "I cannot lose here... I will never lose! I must protect my nakama!"

Person frowned, "Do you even know what nakama means?"

"Sure! It's Hindi for burrito!"

"It is?! I never would have guessed!"

"Of course! Compared by my superior intellect, you're nothing but an ordinary man!" Control Freak snickered.

Person raised his hands to the sky prophetically, "What is man? Nothing but a pile of secrets! But enough talk! Have at you!"

"DRAGON! SUPER NUCLEAR FLAME!"

"SHAGOHAD! OBNOXIOUS RAMMING TECHNIQUE!"

The two sacred beasts slammed into each other with full force, igniting a good portion of the city in a rapidly expanding spherical explosion. At the apex, Person and Control Freak flew out of the blast, clashing against each other with their weapon of choice, be it laser sword or Anti-E.

"I shall reclaim my story from you, Control Freak!"

"It is mine, Person!"

"Prove it!"

Control Freak surged forward, "OUR SPEAKERS GO TO ELEVEN!"

Person charged onward, "PNAKOTIC MANUSCRIPTS!"

An explosion of wills. The two crashed back to the earth with mighty craters.

Person rose from the ashes with a jubilant, "I think Al Azif's really hot!"

Control Freak pushed away the rubble, "Al Azif? Pah! Etheldreda is more attractive!"

"Hardly! Her submissive and demure nature is typical and boring!"

"Al Azif's diminutive stature in contrast to her spitfire personality is just as cliche!"

"But... but Al looked really cute with her hair in a ponytail!"

"She's whiny and a drama-queen!"

"And Etheldreda is a characterless sprite-swap! She wasn't even in the show for more than three episodes!"

"She's still better!"

"No she isn't!"

"Etheldreda!"

"Al Azif!"

"Anakin Skywalker!"

"Darth Vader!"

"Konata!"

"Haruhi!"

"Yuna!"

"Rikku!"

"Oboro!"

"Hotarubi!"

"Kratos!"

"Dante!"

"Kirk!"

"Picard!"

As the two continued to screech at each other, several on-lookers peered around the corner.

"What... are they doing?" Terra deadpanned.

Devil Hand shrugged, "I think they're arguing about their favorite characters..."

"My god..." Valentine muttered darkly, "Our fates rest in the hands of two super powered fanboys..."

Ignoring them completely, Person With Many Aliases stepped back indignantly, pointing in irritation as always, "If we can't settle this in a civilized manner... bring out what you dare call a superior mecha!"

The other self-insert snorted, "That's easy! The ultimate parody of all super robots! MEGAS XLR!"

The convertible-headed robot fell out the sky at the summons.

"A worthy adversary, indeed, but can it stand up to Gunbuster-"

"Easily!"

"-Nono?"

"WHAT?!"

True to Person With Many Aliases' words, the summoned was indeed the lithe female robot. Control Freak had no chance.

"BUSTER BEAM! SLIIIIIIIIIICE!"

Quite no chance at all.

As pieces of scrap metal fell about Control Freak, for the sake of increasing the tension, both were panting hard.

Control Freak thought darkly to himself, _When we first met, he was just a noob with strong magical powers, but now... he's so different from before. So fast... so strong. If I hesitate now, I'll be beaten!_

This firmly sworn into his mind, the current controller of the story gripped his beam weapon with both hands, before chanting.

Person frowned for a second, before he found his limbs being locked into place by circular magic bands.

Valentine gasped, "Lightning bind! This is bad! That muscle-bound freak's gotten really serious!"

Terra looked to the witch in shock, "You can tell?"

"Of course! Who the heck do you think I am?"

Devil Hand shouted toward Person, "Dude! You need any help?"

"DAAAAMMMMMEEEE- Oh gud, I think my voice broke!"

"Hey! Answer me!"

Person sighed, "I'm in the middle of doing something a little heroic here... so just... be quiet or something..."

"Can't say I tried..."

Down the street, Control Freak chanted, "Arcus Cultus Aegeas, heavenly gods who shine over all, descend upon us now as I guide you, Baruel, Zaluel, Browzel... Photon Lancer, Phalanx Shift! FIRE!"

About the man, orbs of crackling (and horribly ripped) electricity hovered, before firing endlessly towards the trapped Author.

Person's words before he was swallowed up by explosions: "This is gonna hurt, right-"

Person was then swallowed up by explosions. As the smoke cleared, Control Freak cheered at the sight of the smoking mess lying all over the ground.

"Ah-ha! This story now belongs to me!"

Waves of despair and Out Of Character washed over the lands, and as Mr. Freeze so aptly put it, "Well, we're totally screwed now."

Amidst Control Freak's triumphant hollers, he heard a whisper.

"Damned hounds..."

"Huh!?"

Person's mouth moved independently of the rest of the comatose body, "Your power is impressive, but... a pack of hounds can't beat me..."

Shadows moved onto Person as he leaned upward onto his feet, _"I CANNOT BE KILLED... BY DOGS. That which defeats a monster... is always a man."_

Control Freak pointed forth a shaking finger in disbelief, "How-how-how did you survive that!?"

All he got in return was an absent-minded yawn while the Author scratched his head, "I dunno... must have read something good... Still, that last attack must have tired you out... allow me to show you my new special, if only fifty percent original ultimate technique."

Control Freak nervously laughed, "Oh yeah...? I mean, bring it on!"

_I am the bone of my sword..._

_Steel is my body, and fire is my blood..._

_I have created over a thousand blades..._

_Unknown to death...__Nor known to life..._

As power gathered about Person With Many Aliases, his opponent appeared unimpressed, "I've seen that move a hundred times! You can't beat me with such a simple move!"

_Have withstood pain to create many weapons..._

_Yet, those hands will never hold anything..._

_So as I pray..._

"Unlimited _**Maid**__ Works."_

The world around Control Freak was suddenly replaced by an expansive and endless cafe. In the distance, Person could be see on a surfboard supported by many, many hands, all belonging to a certain type of people.

"Maids! Rally to me! Short maids! Tall Maids! Old Maids! Sexy Maids! Cosplay Maids! Disgruntled Maids! Full Time Maids! Powerful Maids! Part Time Maids! People who were tricked into dressing as a Maid! Assemble! Unite! Grant me your power to strike down this puny man who dare call himself an Author, or worse, a true fan! Strike! Together at once!"

The once muscle-bound gary-stu self-insert, now just a portly couch potato stripped of his powers, screamed as the fury unmatched by even hell itself, multiplied a thousand-fold, directed itself completely onto the fanboy.

-

-

-

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for showboating and stealing this chapter! But it was an emergency!" Person With Many Aliases profusely apologized to the Foundation members, while a tied and gagged Control Freak laid at his feet.

Devil Hand waved off the supplications easily, "Is alright, if you only gonna do this one time. Plus, I dun think I'd like being under the power of a fat guy..."

"Don't worry! Once I leave everything well return back to normal!"

"It better!" Valentine snorted, before muttering to herself, "This is what I get for thinking of watching Lain..."

Terra frowned, and leaned in close to scrutinize Person, who seemed unhappy at the attention.

Finally, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Euhhh...Ie! No! We've really... never met!" Person stammered out, looking away rather guitily.

Terra knew that meant something, but she couldn't place her finger on what. At any rate, she wasn't going to find out at this point, "Whatever..."

Freeze lit a cylinder and breathed out easily, "And what is to become of your prisoner?"

Person nudged the rebelling sake of couch potato, "Not sure really... someone wanted to pull a string I heard..."

"A string?"

"Nevermind! I never make any sense! Well, time for you guys to just think of this as a weird dream! Ciao!"

-

-

-

Robin fell out of his bed. As he got up, he could only scratch his head at what had just transpired.

"Beast Boy better have not put anything in my coffee..."

-

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A/N: The Author was injured in the making of this chapter.

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**Chapter 15: "Nora" - She had red hair and green eyes, but she threatened to cough her soul away. When she asked why he kept looking at her, he said "You are going to become the same as me."**


End file.
